ROSIE Winterton, Labour’s chief whip, has protested to Jeremy Corbyn’s office over the so-called “loyalty list” drawn up by his supporters and which labelled certain party figures, including herself, as hostile to the leadership.
Dame Rosie is said to be furious with the drawing up of the list and last week had to endure being goaded by Prime Minister David Cameron as it emerged her name alongside those of Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, and Ian Murray, the shadow Scottish secretary, were among those placed in the “hostile” category.
The Doncaster MP, whose job is to maintain discipline and unity Labour MPs, is believed to have passed on her concerns to Mr Corbyn via a senior official in his office, saying such attempts to label MPs as supporters and detractors was divisive and unacceptable.
The list split Labour MPs into five different sections ranging from a “core group” of loyalists, through “neutral but not hostile”, to a final “hostile” list.
Corbyn critic John Woodcock, the Labour backbencher, tweeted in response to the list: “Worse week for Cameron since he came in and that stupid f****** list makes us into a laughing stock.”
But the party leader insisted he did not know about the list, believed to have been drawn up by his supporters, who, it is claimed, meet weekly to discuss internal party issues.
One insider said: “It has come from that group, not necessarily from the leader’s office but from people loyal to Jeremy, who meet with him and McDonnell on a regular basis. It has been massively destabilising because it looks like a blacklist.”
Dame Rosie has made it clear efforts to categorise Labour MPs has undermined party unity and left Labour members – many of whom had been wrongly labelled as disloyal – open to criticism from their constituents and Labour activists, who have been demanding why they have not been more supportive of Mr Corbyn.
Last week, the chief whip emailed all Labour MPs, stressing how the party leader had assured her that his office was not involved in drawing up the list and that he was “keen to ensure his leadership is inclusive and reflective of the broad range of views represented in the party”.
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