Squeaky Angela under pressure as member urge NEC to rule out “fixed ballot”

Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is being urged to reject Angela Eagle’s request to “fix” the ballot by excluding Jeremy Corbyn from the leadership election.

Anglea Eagle appeared on the influential Radio 4 Today news programme this morning in a rambling interview in which she appeared to tell off the interviewer as if he was a naughty schoolboy. This followed her poorly attended press conference where she launched her campaign with a sententious speech reminiscent of Iain Duncan Smith’s infamous “the quiet man” speech which is widely credited as having fatally kebab’d IDS’s career.

Eagle’s supporters have long admitted it would be a very tall order to beat Jeremy Corbyn in a two-way ballot of Labour Party members – leading many to wonder why they were launching what appeared to be a doomed bid for the leadership. Now the MPs’ hand has been revealed – they want to exclude Jeremy Corbyn from the ballot paper, so that Angela Eagle can win in a coronation in which only MPs and NEC members have voted and party members are presented with a fait accompli.

Their plans may come unstuck, as Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite, the largest UK union, has indicated that there should be a fair vote, with Corbyn automatically on the ballot paper and only Eagle having to obtain nominations to validate her challenge.

It is also possible that Owen Smith, a relatively low profile MP for Pontypridd, may also make a bid for the leadership. When asked, during the Today programme interview, whether Smith might split the anti-Corbyn vote, Eagle did not appear aware that Labour’s contest is run under a preferential ballot which would see the third placed candidate’s second preference votes redistributed to the top two candidates. Wales has a relatively old fashioned Labour Party, where some members will be reluctant to vote for a woman but might be prepared to give their second preference to a female candidate. Smith could pick up votes from fellow Welsh members which Eagle could harvest in the second round.

Eagle must be feeling the pressure from Corbyn supporters. Every post on her Facebook page announcing and detailing her campaign has been met by thousands of comments calling for a vote for Corbyn and urging her to stop this damaging split. She has also issued a statement asking party members not to telephone her. She says that her constituents are having problems getting through to her (a claim which has not been independently verified) – which suggests that she has been receiving a substantial volume of phone calls on a similar basis to the Facebook feedback. It has also been suggested that party members in her own constituency are now looking up the procedure for how to deselect her as their parliamentary candidate.

The Labour Party pressure group Momentum is channelling support for Corbyn into different routes. It is asking Corbyn supporters to sign a petition by 12 noon today (Tuesday, 12th July) calling on the NEC to ensure there is a fair contest. The petition has received 45,000 signatures in just over 24 hours and can be found at:
https://www.change.org/p/labour-party-national-executive-committee-respect-jeremy-corbyn-s-right-to-automatically-be-on-the-leadership-ballot?recruiter=571554350&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

•How to contact Angela Eagle to protest about her attempt to ditch Jeremy Corbyn
Twitter: @angelaeagle
(or go on to https://twitter.com/angelaeagleand use the “tweet Angela” button).
Email: eaglea@parliament.uk
Telephone her at the House of Commons on 020-7219 3843 or 020-7219 5057 or in her constituency on 0151-637 1979.
Write to her at: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA or Sherlock House, 6 Manor Road, Liscard, Wallasey, Wirral, CH45 4JB

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