Labour leadership battle: Blocking Corbyn from ballot would be '˜sordid fix' say unions

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said it would be “alien to the concept of natural justice” if Mr Corbyn was blocked from defending his position, something which the union warned would “leave a stain on party unity that might prove permanent”.

Brick thrown through window at Angela Eagle’s local Labour Party office

Mr Corbyn cancelled a planned speech at a Unite conference in Brighton in order to attend the crunch meeting of the National Executive Committee, which will rule on whether the leader needs the nominations of 51 MPs and MEPs to stand in the contest triggered by a challenge from shadow business secretary Angela Eagle.

Labour’s rulebook states only that “potential challengers” for the leadership need the nominations of 20% of MPs and MEPs, something which opponents of Mr Corbyn say should apply to him as well as Ms Eagle and other possible contenders including former shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith.

But Mr Corbyn’s supporters argue that, as incumbent leader, he should not be classed as a “challenger”, and the NEC is facing the threat of legal action if his name is not on the ballot paper.

Lawyers acting for Jim Kennedy, a trade union member of the committee, have written to party general secretary Iain McNicol warning they will take “injunctive action” unless Mr Corbyn is automatically included.

“Our clients are very concerned that the purpose of the special meeting is to manufacture a situation whereby Jeremy Corbyn’s name will be omitted from the leadership ballot. That is wholly unacceptable,” said solicitor Martin Howe.

Mr McCluskey said the party rules were clear that when there was no vacancy for the leadership - as at present - it was the challenger who was required to get 51 nominations.

“If Angela or Owen or anybody else wants to challenge Jeremy, that’s fine. Jeremy should be on the ballot paper and we should try to conduct the campaign in a civilised manner,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“I will accept the result but I won’t accept a fix and that’s unfortunately what appears to be developing at the moment, which is deeply regrettable.”

Unite issued a statement saying the leader must be on the ballot paper “by right”, and warning: “We fear that a leader elected in any ballot from which Jeremy Corbyn is excluded would have no credibility in either the party or the country. Any such election would look like a sordid fix, and alien to the traditions of the Labour movement.

“Therefore the only way for any challenger to Jeremy Corbyn to seek a legitimate mandate from members to lead our party is through a fair and open election in which the elected leader is able to defend himself, his record and his programme. To do anything else would leave a stain on party unity that might prove permanent.”

Mr Corbyn won support from train drivers’ union Aslef, whose general secretary, Mick Whelan, said: Any gerrymandering, any attempt to keep Jeremy off the ballot, will mean the next leader will not have the democratic mandate he or she needs to win a general election. And it will further erode the trust people have in our politicians at Westminster.

“That is why we are calling on the NEC to do the right thing and ensure that Jeremy is on the ballot.”

And transport union TSSA reaffirmed its support for the veteran left-winger, saying: “According to the party rules, the democratically elected and incumbent leader of our party - in this case Jeremy Corbyn - must as of right be on the ballot paper.

“Frankly, it would be nonsensical for an incumbent not to be allowed to defend their record against any challenger. It would be a sham. It would fly in the face of natural justice and the democratic traditions and the rules of our party.”

The NEC has been presented with conflicting legal advice over Mr Corbyn’s position, with Labour-commissioned analysis stating that he will need the nominations, but Unite-backed advice from Michael Mansfield QC concluding that he does not because he is a sitting leader.

The battle looks increasingly likely to end up in the courts, with Mr Corbyn vowing to fight any exclusion from the ballot paper but the anti-Corbyn camp weighing up a legal challenge if he is allowed to stand without the nominations.

Meanwhile, a YouGov poll for the Election Data website found the Labour leader’s backing dissolving among rank-and-file union members.

In the survey of 1,221 trade union members from Unite, the GMB, Unison, Usdaw and the CWU, almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents said he was doing badly as leader compared with a third (33%) who said he was doing well.

More than three-quarters (76%) said it is unlikely that Mr Corbyn will ever become prime minister and more than two-thirds (69%) said it was unlikely Labour would win the next election with him as leader.

Ms Eagle, who has met the nominations threshold, launched her leadership challenge on Monday, promising to make Labour electable again after the “howl of pain” expressed in the Brexit vote by people who felt they had been ignored for too long.

Meanwhile, deputy leader Tom Watson told a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) that his abandoned peace talks with union leaders failed to find a way around the impasse between MPs and pro-Corbyn elements of the party.

Labour’s civil war intensified after the EU referendum when 172 of the party’s MPs indicated that they had no confidence in Mr Corbyn in a vote in which he garnered the support of just 40 Westminster colleagues.

A spokesman for the Labour leader said his speech to Unite would be re-arranged for later in the week.