Len McCluskey has called on Labour MPs who persistently criticise Jeremy Corbyn to either get behind him or leave the party.
The leader of the Unite union, which is Labour’s biggest donor, said at a fringe meeting at the TUC Congress in Manchester that the MPs were elected to defend the only party seeking to fight for the rights of workers.
At another meeting, the former cabinet minister David Blunkett urged Corbyn to “lay off” critical MPs and end a “witch-hunt” being conducted in the Labour leader’s name.
Their comments came as MPs prepared to attend a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Monday evening, the first since the summer. Corbyn is expected to face calls to prevent Momentum activists from organising against MPs, and criticism for his office’s handling of a series of controversies around antisemitism.
Several MPs whose views differ from those of the leadership have lost confidence votes in their local parties and now face battles to avoid deselection.
McCluskey told the TUC meeting: “I have a message for Labour MPs who seek constantly to criticise Jeremy Corbyn. Please turn your attacks away from our leader and turn them on to the government who are attacking our communities.
“That is what you were elected for. That is why you are there: to support our leader so that the aspirations of ordinary working people can be met.”
McCluskey said there needed to be “unity behind our leader, our party, the only party that can deliver a Brexit that speaks for the whole nation, with its policies on industrial strategy, regional investment banks, on abolishing zero-hours [contracts], on a £10 minimum wage and building a million homes. This is the only party that can take us forward in difficult times and unity is essential.
“Those people who don’t want to unite in this great cause that goes ahead of us should leave and go elsewhere and let the rest of us fight on,” he said.
At a separate meeting Lord Blunkett, the former home secretary, said: “I wish Jeremy would make it clear that he values his own colleagues. It’s fairly basic precept of leading any organisation that within reasonable bounds you defend the people who are there around you and who you rely on to win votes in parliament.”
He said he wanted to see Corbyn “speaking out and saying we’re not in favour of witch-hunts, and saying that to preach fraternity and solidarity and mutuality on the one hand and then demonstrate the exact opposite on the other is unacceptable.”
Blunkett said the moves against MPs would make it harder for Corbyn to provide a viable opposition. “A large swathe of MPs whose jobs have been taken away but are expected to continue serving till the prospect of a 2022 general election would make dealing with the boundary changes impossible, would make a sensible, disciplined approach to Brexit impossible and would send a signal to the wider electorate that the Labour party is split down the middle,” he said.
