Chuka Umunna calls on Jeremy Corbyn to ‘call off the dogs’ amid Labour infighting
2 min read
Chuka Umunna has called on Jeremy Corbyn to “call off the dogs” in an attempt to end the bitter in-fighting threatening to tear Labour apart.
The former Shadow Cabinet member will use a major speech to say the party’s moderates face a “clear and present danger” of being driven out of the party by hardline factions.
Mr Umunna will also accuse the Labour leadership of being prepared "to wave through this disastrous Brexit" and urged them to make the case for a fresh EU referendum.
His comments, in a speech to centre-left campaign group Progress, follow motions of no confidence being passed by local Labour activists in some MPs who have criticised Mr Corbyn.
Mr Umunna will say: "My message to our leadership: it is within your power to stop this.
“So call off the dogs and get on with what my constituency, one of the most diverse communities in the nation, demands we do - without equivocation, fight this Tory Brexit.
"That is where all our efforts should be."
Mr Umunna, a leading voice behind the People’s Vote campaign for a second EU referendum, will add: "It would be a complete betrayal of our values for the Labour Party to act as a bystander and wave through this disastrous Brexit, for which there is no majority in Parliament, let alone the country.
"It is simply not good enough to adopt a position which refuses to make the case for a People’s Vote on the deal and at the same time leave it on the table as an option in the event of impasse in the House of Commons.
“That is simply constructive ambiguity continued, which needs to be junked.”
A Labour Party source hit out at the speech as “incoherent and inaccurate”.
They added: “[This speech] does a disservice to his constituents who want Labour to oppose the Tories' brutal cuts to the services our communities rely on."
Mr Umunna's comments echo those of Joan Ryan, one of the Labour MPs who has faced a no confidence motion by party members in her constituency.
The chair of Labour Friends of Israel said: "Labour needs to decide: it's either an aspiring party of government focused laser-like on the priorities of the British people - Brexit, an economy which works for everyone, and rebuilding our austerity-starved public services.
"Or it's a party fighting with itself about ideological purity, arguing with the Jewish community about what constitutes anti-Semitism, and going down a rabbit warren of deselection, purges and harassment. It can't be both.
"The Labour party is tearing itself to pieces and in the process it is tearing down the very people it needs the most."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
