Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn have drawn up an “urgent” plan that would hand party members the powers to reinstate the former leader as a Labour MP. In a sign of the tensions within the party over Corbyn’s suspension, figures on the left are circulating a change to Labour rules that would give members the final say over disciplinary action taken against MPs. Local branches of the party are being asked to back the rule change and propose it at the forthcoming Labour conference, creating a potentially embarrassing moment for Keir Starmer as he attempts to use the Brighton gathering to reinvigorate his leadership. The proposal, drawn up by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and circulated across the party, states that an urgent rule change is needed to close a “gaping hole in the Labour party rule book” and hand more power to members. “The PLP [Parliamentary Labour party] is not accountable to annual conference,” the proposal states. It said the new measure “would require the PLP and chief whip to report directly to the conference, including on MPs’ discipline, with the conference able to confirm or reject disciplinary decisions that are of concern to delegates”. While the change would apply to action taken against all MPs, it has been designed as a way to reinstate Corbyn, who was suspended from the party last October after stating that antisemitism in the party was “dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media”. It followed damning findings in a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Corbyn, who attacked the suspension as a “political intervention” that he would strongly oppose, had his party membership reinstated after 19 days but still has not had the party whip restored in the Commons, meaning he sits as an independent MP. Corbyn has said he had made “absolutely clear those who deny there has been an antisemitism problem in the Labour party are wrong”. Motions that are problematic for the leadership are not uncommon at Labour conferences, but it is one of several issues that could cause a distraction for Starmer at a hugely important moment for him. Party bodies may be able to throw out the proposal if it is deemed to have legal problems, but ultimately Labour may need the help of supportive trade unions to kill it off. Despite thousands of pro-Corbyn members leaving the party since Starmer’s arrival, the measure is a sign of the significant divisions that remain inside Labour after years of civil war. Senior party figures have long blamed Corbyn for leaving behind party structures that needed a lot of work to repair. “People underestimate just how much work we’ve had to do to fix things in the party,” said one key figure. More than a year into Starmer’s leadership, he has already overhauled his senior team and has begun to take a tougher stance against the party’s hard left. Last month, Labour’s ruling body voted to ban four far-left factions that were vocal supporters of Corbyn’s leadership and to overhaul its complaints process. It outlawed Resist and Labour Against the Witchhunt, which claims antisemitism allegations were politically motivated, and Labour in Exile Network. Socialist Appeal, a group that describes itself as a Marxist voice of Labour and youth, was also banned. Rob Sewell, editor of Socialist Appeal, described it as a “blatant, politically motivated attack on the left by the Labour right wing”.
A senior Labour insider said they were confident that conference would reject the rule change, which would cause obvious issues in sexual assault claims and other sensitive allegations. They added disciplinary action should not be politicised and that the party should be focused on the country’s priorities. Charlotte Nichols, the Labour MP for Warrington North, said: “The last thing we need is a rule change that could lead to the second guessing of the outcome of bullying and sexual harassment cases or the debate of individual disciplinary cases. This is not how our complaints system should run and should be rejected if it goes to conference floor.” The party is also likely to have yet another clash over its endorsement of the Trident nuclear weapons programme, although Starmer now has many more supporters in key party positions and within the major unions since he became leader, which should make it easier for him to navigate potential conference problems. However, Unite – the biggest and most influential union – is still in the hands of the party’s left.