Jeremy Corbyn is to face a formal call to reintroduce elections to the shadow cabinet when a motion is put to the parliamentary party on Monday.
Clive Betts, the MP for Sheffield South East, proposed the suggestion, which supporters hope could be approved and sent forward to the party’s conference this month.
The motion is being presented by supporters as a way of healing the party after a damaging leadership contest, which Corbyn is favourite to win.
Corbyn’s allies have previously suggested that any such move would be a way of boxing in the leader to ensure that the so-called right of the party controls the shadow cabinet.
A parliamentary Labour source told the Guardian that the motion would force Corbyn to address the issue of how he will bring a shadow cabinet back together if he wins the leadership election.
“Whatever the result of the leadership election, it is clear that the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] must take steps to come together. As part of this process, the PLP would like to ask the NEC [national executive committee] to bring forward a rule change to this year’s annual conference, re-introducing the system of shadow cabinet elections immediately following this current leadership contest.
“This would ensure that the shadow cabinet has the support of backbench Labour MPs and that the entire PLP can become an effective opposition and hold the government to account from a position of unity,” the source said.
The likelihood of any such change remains remote, however, because it would require the agreement of the national executive committee and the party conference as well as two-thirds of Labour MPs.
The meeting of the parliamentary party, which will take place in Westminster on Monday night, will be asked to discuss the motion. The motion has been backed by Clive Efford, the MP for Eltham.
Until they were abolished in 2011, elections were held to choose the shadow cabinet whenever Labour was in opposition.
Shadow cabinet members were elected at the beginning of a parliamentary session. Ed Miliband backed the plan to abolish the elections, which was confirmed at a meeting on 5 July 2011.
Corbyn at one stage said he would reintroduce shadow cabinet elections, but has since backtracked.
If such a rule change is agreed by the NEC and this year’s conference, the precise number of members to be elected and the method of electing them could be recommended to the PLP by the parliamentary committee, and the PLP’s standing orders be brought into line, sources claimed.
In the wake of the Brexit vote, about 60 Labour MPs resigned from Corbyn’s frontbench, including more than 20 shadow cabinet ministers, as they called for his resignation.
