Jeremy Corbyn leadership rival accused of being pro party split

Labour leadership challenger, Owen Smith, will be branded the “disunity” candidate, unless he condemns talk of a split in the party, shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has warned.

Mr McDonnell, who is running Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign to remain as leader, accused Mr Smith of “flip-flopping” in the wake of reports some MPs intended to trigger a “semi-split”.

“If he continues to refuse to denounce those calling for a split, then members will think he is simply trying to scaremonger them to vote for him by his talking-up of threats from a minority of MPs supporting his campaign, who are plotting to split our party, in Tory newspapers, while, at the same time, refusing to denounce them.

“And it’ll be hard for anyone to tell how much Owen truly is opposed to a split, and how much he is giving tacit support to those plotters in a hope it helps his campaign. Owen Smith, therefore, needs to immediately distance himself from those people saying they want a split, which is causing huge damage to our party at this time. Anything short of this will make him the ‘disunity candidate’,” Mr McDonnell said.

Leading Smith supporter, Kate Green, had written to the chair of the pro-Corbyn Momentum group, to organise a leadership debate.

Ms Green, who chairs Mr Smith’s campaign, accused Mr Corbyn of refusing to take part in a planned debate on Channel Four this week.

The MP said she was writing to “seek an assurance that Jeremy does not intend to pull out of the remaining media debates that have been scheduled for the rest of the campaign”.

Ms Green hit back at the shadow chancellor’s claims, saying: “The irony of John McDonnell offering hollow words on party unity will not be lost on Labour members and supporters. Since the devastating referendum result, Owen has worked tirelessly to unite the party, negotiating with Jeremy, with trade unions, and with people across the Labour movement, in an effort to bring all parts of the party together. While John, who previously referred to the Labour Party as just a ‘tactic’ , has remained relaxed about the prospect of the party splitting”.