Jeremy Corbyn to face leadership challenge in ‘next few days’

Jeremy Corbyn is likely to face a leadership challenge in “the next few days”, his ally and shadow chancellor John McDonnell said.

He appealed to the party’s MPs to “calm down” and settle Labour’s differences through a democratic process.

Answering questions following a speech in London he said Mr Corbyn is “staying as the leader of the Labour Party” and if there was a contest he could win.

He said it was “really disappointing” that frontbenchers had quit at a time when the country needed stability.

Mr McDonnell said: “The internal difficulties within both parties will be resolved, hopefully by democratic means, and on that basis, amicably, the Labour Party will come back together.

“If there is to be a leadership challenge to Jeremy Corbyn, let’s bring that forward, use the democratic process and then our party members will decide who is the leader and the future direction of our party.”

He continued: “At the moment, Jeremy is leader of the Labour Party, elected with the largest mandate any political leader had from his political party only nine months ago.

“If there is to be a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn, in terms of a leadership contest, that will emerge I suspect over the next few days.

“If that is the case, my message to all Labour MPs now is just ‘calm down’, let’s do our job. It isn’t just our party members who need us to do our job, it is the country that need us to do our job.”

Former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle is expected to mount a challenge to Mr Corbyn, with ex-shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith also reported to be considering a bid.

In the last week around 60,000 people have joined Labour with the prospect of taking part in a leadership election.

But as both factions in the party have used social media campaigns to encourage supporters to sign up, it is not clear whether the boost in membership would benefit Mr Corbyn, who was swept into the leader’s office on the back of a grassroots movement last year.

Mr McDonnell said people were “flooding in” to the party since Mr Corbyn’s victory. He said Mr Corbyn was “staying” and said that if there was a challenge he would automatically be on the ballot paper — an assertion disputed by some of those opposed to the leader.

“I think he will win, but you can never predict these things, it’s a democratic election” he said.