Jeremy Corbyn's chief spin doctor has called for the Labour leader's critics to be "isolated" on social media sites like Twitter.
According to a report by the Labour Party Marxists website, Seumas Milne spoke out after making a surprise appearance at the annual general meeting of the hard-left Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, which has previously supported the mandatory reselection of MPs.
He reportedly told around 80 activists at the meeting that "a small number" of Labour MPs were hoping that the party would do badly in the May local elections to undermine Mr Corbyn's leadership.
Mr Milne, the party leader’s director of communications, also talked about the “symbiosis between some in the Labour party and elements of the media and the establishment”.
The Guardian associate editor - who is on secondment to the Labour party - went on to say that Mr Corbyn's supporters should use social media to "isolate those who want to create a feeling of confusion and failure".
Yet critics of the party leader took swiftly to Twitter to hit back.
John Woodcock described Mr Milne’s intervention as “tawdry”, tweeting: “Tactics hall-mark of ultra-left apparatchiks should have no place in British Labour Party.”
His Labour colleague Mike Gapes added: “An apt self-description by Guardian associate editor on leave of absence.”
The May elections are seen by many as key to Mr Corbyn’s survival as Labour leader.
While party sources have suggested the leadership has written off Scottish Labour’s chances of any meaningful revival in the Holyrood poll and the expectation is that the party will lose more seats in the local elections in England, the leadership is hoping that victory in the London mayoral election by Sadiq Khan will boost Mr Corbyn’s standing.
However, some suggest that defeat in London could spell a serious parliamentary attempt at ousting the leader by the autumn.
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