A new organisation that has been set up to oppose Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership is receiving funds from Tony Blair’s former spin doctor, Electoral Commission documents show.
Labour Tomorrow received a £10,000 loan from Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, the former special adviser who now runs a consultancy firm chaired by Peter Mandelson. It also took donations of £80,000 during September from Martin Taylor, a hedge fund manager, and Lord Myners, Gordon Brown’s former adviser.
Since July, Labour Tomorrow has raised £335,400, with £25,000 from Lord Oakeshott, a former Liberal Democrat.
In turn, Labour Tomorrow has donated £114,460 to Saving Labour, another group opposing Corbyn in the leadership race against Owen Smith, which will conclude on Saturday.
Payments to the new organisation have enraged Corbyn’s supporters, who claim that both Saving Labour and Labour Tomorrow are opaque and have not fully divulged their supporters or funders to the public.
Regarded as hostile to Corbyn, Labour Tomorrow’s website says it “raises, coordinates and distributes funds for moderate centre-left organisations which are committed to rebuilding a consensus for a Labour government”.
The group was founded by the former Brown aide Nicola Murphy, who is married to the former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie. Other directors include the former home secretary David Blunkett and the Labour peer Baroness Dean.
Saving Labour was set up by Reg Race, the former MP for Wood Green in north London, who founded a socialist group with Corbyn and Tony Benn in 1990.
Race said that whatever happens on Saturday, the organisation will continue to raise funds to argue for an electable Labour government. “We are not the Owen Smith campaign. We are not going away because it is important that the Labour party remains an electable force,” he said.
Race claimed to know Corbyn well and accused his former comrade of poor leadership, a lack of ability to think on his feet and wildly uncosted policies.
“The truth is that Blunkett’s dog would make a better leader. Jeremy and the people around him are in complete denial about his chances of winning a general election. The Conservatives have until now remained very quiet. If Corbyn ever faces them in a general election, his current polling figures, which are already poor, will flatter him,” he said.
Saving Labour hopes to attract more supporters, he said. “I fully expect to see continued disillusionment with him as it dawns on Labour members that he cannot win.”
A spokesperson for the Jeremy for Labour campaign said: “The continued lack of transparency around Saving Labour can only be a cause for concern for Labour party members.
“It is now receiving donations from an opaque organisation founded by the wife of a current Labour MP, which is funded by former Lib Dems and someone who runs Peter Mandelson’s consultancy firm, and is headed up by former home secretary David Blunkett.”
