John McDonnell attacks Labour MPs despite Jeremy Corbyn unity plea
2 min read
John McDonnell has accused Labour MPs of not being "generous" enough towards Jeremy Corbyn - just a day after the Labour leader called for party unity.
The Shadow Chancellor told delegates at the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union's conference said he had "never seen such behaviour".
Mr Corbyn told a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Tuesday evening that the party must continue to show the same "collective discipline" it did during the election campaign.
He said: "Now the election is over, the next phase of our campaign to win power for the majority has already begun. We must remain in permanent campaign mode on a general election footing.
"We achieved what we did last Thursday because we were a united party during the campaign and we need to maintain that unity and collective discipline in the weeks and months ahead."
But at the BFAWU conference in Southport yesterday, Mr McDonnell said: "I’ve never seen such behaviour in the [PLP], you wouldn’t tolerate it in your branches, I can tell you."
Elsewhere in his speech, the Shadow Chancellor called for a million protesters to take to the streets demanding another election.
Meanwhile, the Labour leader has also dumped Tom Watson as Labour chairman and replaced him with close ally, Ian Lavery.
The move came in a reshuffle which also saw Owen Smith - who challenged Mr Corbyn for the party leadership last year - return to the Labour frontbench as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary.
One Labour MP told PoliticsHome: "Owen Smith is well-qualified for the role, but his appointment is more about internal Labour politics than Northern Ireland."
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