The Labour MP Frank Field has suggested that Jeremy Corbyn could be replaced as Labour’s leader in the House of Commons – but still remain the elected head of the party.
In a letter to The Independent, Mr Field, chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee and a former government minister, said it was clear that Mr Corbyn was “the party leader in the country”.
But, with a number of Labour MPs holding different views to their leader on issues such as nuclear weapons and bombing Syria, there has been speculation that the party will have to oust Mr Corbyn or split.
Mr Field wrote that the idea that a “unifying leader” would emerge “doesn’t look like a reality at present”.
But he offered a third alternative to prevent a mass defection from the Labour party.
“Rather than splits, a much more favourable alternative might be for the Labour Party to have a leader elected by MPs and a leader in the country elected by the entire membership,” he said.
“Both would be key positions, but the electorate would be voting on the parliamentary team as an alternative government. How one gets there, of course, is another matter.”
John McTernan, a former Labour party aide, suggested the same approach in an article for The Daily Telegraph last week, but the fact that a senior MP is openly arguing for it suggests the idea could be gaining momentum within the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP).
Mr McTernan was far from coy about the means to achieve that state of affairs.
“It is now time for the PLP to act. Mutiny will take some organisation, but it no longer requires bravery – just self-respect,” he wrote.
“When the PLP elected the chairs of their departmental committees there was a clean sweep for mainstream MPs. What was previously a little-known part of PLP internal organisation is now – effectively – the real Shadow Cabinet.”
Speaking during the Lords’ debate on bombing Isis, Labour peer Lord Rooker called for Mr Corbyn to be replaced.
“There are members of the Cabinet that I would rather have as Prime Minister – we need to get rid of him,” he said.
