“Disloyal” MPs should be purged when the boundaries of Westminster constituencies are redrawn, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn on Labour’s ruling body has said.
Darren Williams said the boundaries shake-up – which will remove 50 seats and dramatically alter most of the rest – was an “opportunity” to get rid of Labour MPs who have attacked their leader.
The call will alarm the majority of Labour MPs, who passed a vote of no confidence in Mr Corbyn in July and are desperate for him to lose the current leadership race.
Wayne David, an MP in Wales, where 11 seats will disappear, said he feared a “purge” led by the Corbynite grassroots group Momentum, adding: “It’s a recipe for civil war inside the party.”
Moderate Labour MPs whose seats are at risk include Owen Smith, the leadership challenger, and Vernon Coaker, Chris Leslie, Tristram Hunt, Stella Creasy, Ian Austin and John Woodcock, many of whom are former ministers.
Under Labour rules, an MP whose seat is being abolished has an automatic right to contest any new constituency which will contain at least 40% of the old one.
But Mr Williams, who has a seat on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC), told the BBC: “Where MPs have consistently demonstrated a disloyalty to the party leader and to the views on which he was elected, then I think party members are within their rights to ask whether those MPs should continue to represent them.
“The redrawing of boundaries does represent an opportunity for the selection of some new candidates who may be more in tune with the views of ordinary party members.”
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, one senior Labour MP tried to calm fears of a purge, suggesting Mr Williams was a maverick out of step with Mr Corbyn on the issue.
