John McDonnell says 'old mate' Frank Field could 'come back into the fold' after dramatic Labour resignation
4 min read
Labour’s John McDonnell has said he would welcome Frank Field “back into the fold” after the Birkenhead MP resigned the party whip with a blast at Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Field dramatically quit on Thursday, saying Labour risked becoming a “force for anti-Semitism” in British politics.
He vowed to continue as an independent Labour MP, although party sources have insisted that Mr Field cannot resign the whip without quitting his Labour membership as well.
But Mr McDonnell - who revealed he had spoken to Mr Field over the weekend - struck a conciliatory tone on the veteran MP’s future in the party, and batted away talk of a by-election.
The Shadow Chancellor told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: “Look, Frank's an old mate of mine. He nominated me for the Labour leadership and he's one of the first people I went to to nominate Jeremy on the ballot paper...
“I know he's resigned and I spoke to him yesterday. And he's been quite angry and concerned about a number of things. I think we can address all those things that he's concerned about.
“I think he can continue to make a valuable contribution as a Labour Party member. And I want him to come back into the fold.
“But there's issues that need to be resolved and we can do that, I think, constructively and amicably. And I think his local constituency want this as well."
Some allies of Mr Corbyn have said that Mr Field - who was hit by a vote of no confidence in his local party for voting with the Government on Brexit - should quit his seat altogether and trigger a by-election.
But while Mr McDonnell said he had “always” believed MPs who resign the whip should face the electorate, he cooled talk of a fresh by-election in Birkenhead.
“I think with Frank we can have a proper discussion which can overcome some of the problems that he's identified and we don't need to go anywhere near that.”
PoliticsHome revealed on Friday that Mr Field is considering legal action against Labour if he is told to end his membership.
"I will appeal the expulsion with the best lawyers possible," he told this site.
'WE CAN RESOLVE THIS,' MCDONNELL TELLS MPS
Mr McDonnell meanwhile urged MPs considering a split from the party to “come and see” the leadership to discuss their concerns.
It was reported this morning that a string of Labour MPs are planning to push for a fresh no-confidence motion in Jeremy Corbyn over his handling of allegations of anti-Semitism in the party, while up to 15 MPs are said to be considering following Mr Field out of the door.
But Mr McDonnell said: “The message is, I think on the anti-semitism issue we can resolve this and I think we can resolve this fairly quickly and constructively with goodwill and working together. And I think we can do that.
“On the other issues where people have said they're disgruntled on issues of policy - come and see us and talk to us about these policies.
“And at the end of the day democracy will prevail - what we've always been in the Labour Party is a broad church and I want to maintain it as such.
“Because that's the way you get the best policies. For... twenty years I was on the backbenches, ten years before that I was campaigning on policy positions which were in a minority. Some are still in a minority. Many are in the majority. You can win the argument but you stay within the team to win that argument."
Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger, who has been fiercely critical of the Labour leadership’s handling of anti-Semitism claims, this morning challenged party bosses to act to avoid a split.
“It is my party as much as anyone else’s,” she told the Sunday Mirror.
“But moderate Jewish activists or councillors are being made to feel there’s no place in the party for us anymore.
“Now it’s up to the leadership to decide whether we should feel welcome, or have a place at all.”
But Ian Austin, the anti-Corbyn Labour MP for Dudley, told the same paper he would not be quitting the party.
“I’m not planning to follow Frank Field,” he said. “I want a moderate, mainstream Labour Party capable of earning the public’s trust.”
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