Jeremy Corbyn would be free to sack members of an elected shadow cabinet and appoint allies to key positions under proposals to be presented to Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) in a crunch meeting on Tuesday.
The plans have been drawn up by the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, the Guardian understands, and could be used to hammer out a peace deal between Corbyn and MPs before the party’s bitter leadership battle ends on Saturday.
If Corbyn wins – as the polls suggest he will – then his challenge will be to fill dozens of frontbench positions that were vacated by mass resignations in protest at his leadership during the summer.
Watson has argued that allowing MPs to elect the shadow cabinet would offer a dignified way back for a number of individuals, with Lucy Powell, Dan Jarvis and Gloria De Piero among those who could be persuaded to stand.
Supporters of Corbyn fear that such a system could leave the leader “imprisoned” within his own shadow cabinet by hostile MPs.
But Watson is likely to suggest giving Corbyn the power to remove frontbenchers as a means of preventing anyone from using shadow cabinet elections to try to destabilise the leadership.
The plans will be presented during a tense and hours-long NEC meeting on the eve of the Labour party conference.
Meanwhile, Owen Smith has admitted he would have preferred it if Corbyn had been able to continue as leader for longer before facing a challenge.
In an interview with the Guardian, Smith said he “wasn’t in favour of there being a challenge” but felt he had to stand once the contest had been triggered.
Members have until Wednesday to vote, with the result to be announced on Saturday. The NEC members will urgently discuss ways in which Corbyn and MPs, many of whom have resigned from his frontbench, could work together again.
Watson will try to strike a conciliatory tone but has been at loggerheads with the leadership during the election after an outburst about allegations of entryism into the party.
Corbyn’s supporters are open to the idea of elections as a means of making peace with MPs, and have appointed a member of staff who has been charged with trying to persuade politicians to return.
However, many remain suspicious of Watson and will only sign up to a system under which not just politicians but the party’s members could also vote.
Sources have suggested that they will use the NEC meeting to push for a separate review into how the system could be “democratised”.
Other allies of the leader are also likely to push the NEC to back plans for mediation between the warring factions of the Labour party. Corbyn is preparing to deliver a speech in a bid to set out his plans for unity on Wednesday.
Watson has sought to discourage anyone seeking to remove him as deputy leader. He told Commons magazine the House: “No one exists in democratic office for ever. If there’s a move to nominate another candidate and trigger a deputy leadership race, then let’s bring it on. But I’m not entirely certain it would be a useful expenditure of collective political energy, particularly after the summer we’ve had.”
Corbyn is keen for MPs to come back into the fold, although is thought to be against certain individuals, including the former shadow foreign secretary, Hilary Benn.
MP Jonathan Ashworth, who sits on the NEC, said: “I think the key thing is getting an effective functioning frontbench team back quickly to take on the Tories.
“We can’t stick to the status quo. It looks like Jeremy has agreed to some form of elected shadow cabinet but there are lots of practical questions the NEC will need answered.”
Watson is likely to try to persuade Corbyn with other offers, such as changing Labour’s rules so that any leader who is challenged in the future would automatically be allowed to stand again – a position that NEC members tried to challenge in this election.
The plans for shadow cabinet election will be among a series of recommendations for rule changes put forward by various members. Ideas include paving the way for a formal policymaking women’s conference, more positions reserved in the NEC for Welsh and Scottish politicians, and a bursary scheme to help working class and disabled people become MPs.
The suggestions could have far-reaching implications because they alter the makeup of the national executive committee, which is currently finely balanced between those who support and oppose Corbyn. One source suggested that the recommendations were part of a fundamental power play over who controls the Labour party.
There will also be calls for more trade union members on the committee.
But in a move that could place the deputy leader on a collision course with Corbyn, he will also call for a wholesale review of the way in which Labour elects its leader.
Plans put forward include a return to Labour’s electoral college system, with far more power handed to trade unionists and an end to the registered supporters system under which anyone can pay a fee and vote in the leadership contest.
Watson will also suggest an amplified role for MPs, but perhaps not to the same extent as under the old rules, when politicians from Westminster made up a third of the vote. Instead, he will suggest a figure between 10% and a third.
While a number of MPs are open to the idea of elections, some say they will still not serve in the shadow cabinet. “They could still have a woman problem,” said one female former shadow cabinet member. “The amount of intimidation and abuse that has taken place make it very unlikely that women will be clamouring to go back.”
Another former shadow minister said they were also not convinced they would stand again. “If that allows us to challenge the government and provide some decent opposition, that’s worth looking at, but whether many of us would feel able to return to the shadow cabinet, I’m not so sure.”
The attempt to reach an agreement comes amid promises from Corbyn that he will be conciliatory. But suggestions from some of his allies that MPs could face deselections and the publication of a “hit list” of MPs have created a febrile atmosphere.
Ben Bradshaw, whose name was on the list, told the Guardian he had been twice promised an apology from Corbyn but had still not received one.
“I have always believed that actions speak louder than words and for all Jeremy’s words about wanting to bring people together and unity, I am afraid the actions of him and those around him speak to the opposite.”
One Labour source said it was clear the unions, including Unite, would not back members choosing the shadow cabinet, or having a vote on policymaking, because it would diminish their own influence.
“The people most opposed to it are actually the unions,” the source said. “If we were to hand over all power to the members it would break the link between the party and the trade unions, and that would be unacceptable.”
Meanwhile Corbyn’s campaign is to hold a “super Tuesday” event in a bid to contact more than 10,000 Labour members and supporters.
The group has taken ideas from the Bernie Sanders campaign in the US, using a phone canvassing app through which 5,500 volunteers have already made over 100,000 calls, on top of many more volunteers at traditional phone banks.
The technology has allowed one activist, Liz Hames, to make 1,600 contacts while another, Rita Potter, was close to 1,000.
“I felt I needed to do something practical to try to replace the Tory government with a more caring society,” said Potter, who described Corbyn as “tireless” in his tour of hustings and rallies.
“I felt it was the least I could do, to sit in a comfy chair and telephone for him. It has been soul-lifting to speak to so many wonderful members who also support Jeremy, and I can only encourage other people to give phone-banking a try.”
