WATCH: Unite boss Len McCluskey blasts Labour MPs for 'feral' attacks on Jeremy Corbyn
3 min read
Len McCluskey today renewed his attack on Labour MPs critical of Jeremy Corbyn by branding their barbs “feral” and “hysterical”.
The Unite boss - a key ally of the Labour leader and head of the biggest single donor to the party - suggested local Labour members should oust critical MPs through trigger ballots.
He also refused to join a top Labour frontbencher in saying former mayor Ken Livingstone should be kicked out of the party over anti-Semitism allegations - although he urged haste in deciding on the case.
It comes after the union bigwig blasted “Corbyn-hater” MPs in an article for the New Statesman last month and singled out Chris Leslie, Neil Coyle, John Woodcock, Wes Streeting and Ian Austin.
Today he told the ITV Peston on Sunday show he did not want to see them kicked out, but rather: “I would just like them to be more supportive of the party.”
“There’s nothing wrong with criticising the leadership if you have a particular view but it should be less feral, less hysterical and more constructive,” Mr McCluskey added.
“And that way we will have a better chance of having a united party in order to gain power.”
And he warned: “Accountability is always been there within the Labour party there has always been trigger ballots for MPs.”
Mr McCluskey also appeared to roll back on claims the anti-Semitism crisis in the Labour party was based on “smears”, saying: “The issue of anti-Semitism needs to be dealt with.”
He said the case of Mr Livingstone - who has been suspended for two years for saying Adolf Hitler supported Zionism before he “went mad” - should be dealt with “very quickly now”.
But he added: “If there was a rule in the party against stupidity then he and lots of other people should have been excluded, because it was bizarre.”
His comments put him at odds with Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti, who last weekend said Mr Livingstone should be expelled.
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