Angela Rayner claims Jeremy Corbyn ‘didn’t command respect’

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Labour deputy leadership hopeful Angela Rayner says Jeremy Corbyn ‘didn’t command country’s respect’ as John McDonnell desperately pleads with members not to ditch his hard-Left policies

  • Angela Rayner has attacked Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party
  • The deputy leadership frontrunner said Mr Corbyn ‘did not command respect’
  • Meanwhile, John McDonnell urged party members not to ditch hard-Left policies
  • The shadow chancellor wants Rebecca Long-Bailey to win the leadership race 

By Jack Maidment, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Angela Rayner has launched a savage attack on Jeremy Corbyn as she suggested he had failed as Labour leader because he ‘didn’t command respect’. 

The shadow education secretary, who is the current favourite to win the Labour deputy leadership, said Mr Corbyn had been unable to unite the party. 

She also insisted she could succeed where Mr Corbyn had struggled because she ‘resonates with people in the country in a way that Jeremy doesn’t’. 

Ms Rayner’s harsh comments are likely to take the current party leadership off guard given that she has previously been a loyal supporter of Mr Corbyn. 

Her intervention came as John McDonnell issued a plea to Labour members not to ditch the politics of the hard-Left as he urged them to back Rebecca Long-Bailey in the leadership race. 

Mr McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said Labour needed to ‘learn the right lessons’ from its general election disaster in December but that must not mean ‘slowly retreating’ from the policies advocated by Mr Corbyn. 

His comments in an email to party activists will be seen as a direct shot across the bows of Sir Keir Starmer who is the favoured candidate of Labour moderates in the battle to replace Mr Corbyn.

Mr McDonnell and his allies will be concerned that their grip on the party appears to be waning with Sir Keir the prohibitive favourite to win the top job. 

Angela Rayner, pictured at a hustings event in Durham on February 23, said Jeremy Corbyn ‘didn’t command respect’

John McDonnell, pictured in London on February 20, has urged Labour members not to ditch the policies advocated by Mr Corbyn

John McDonnell, pictured in London on February 20, has urged Labour members not to ditch the policies advocated by Mr Corbyn

Voting in the Labour leadership and deputy leadership contests began yesterday and will conclude on April 2 with a winner due to be announced at a special event on April 4. 

Starmer opens door to Labour return for Alastair Campbell 

Sir Keir Starmer has suggested he would welcome Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell back into the party.

The Labour leadership frontrunner said Mr Campbell, who was expelled last year after he admitted voting for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections, had made a ‘huge contribution’ to Labour.

He contrasted the rapid way the party had dealt with Mr Campbell’s case with its approach to complaints of anti-Semitism, amid persistent accusations that it had been too slow to act.

‘Look, I want anybody who wants to be in our party to be in the party. Alastair is a constituent of mine. And he was a long-standing Labour member, (he made) a huge contribution to the party,’ he told HuffPost.

‘I think we need to get past this whole question of chucking people out and expulsions, etc. The cases we should concentrate on are cases, for example, of anti-Semitism or other racist behaviour within the party.

‘And I use Alastair’s case as an example to say, if you can be chucked out of the party, almost straight away, for supporting another party at an election, surely you can be chucked out of our party in an absolutely clear case of anti-Semitism, and the mismatch was huge there.’ 

Party members have a choice between Sir Keir, Ms Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy for the top job but the shadow Brexit secretary is widely expected to prevail. 

Ms Rayner is one of five candidates in the running to become the party’s next deputy leader and she is the overwhelming favourite to win. 

Today she signalled the party would be very different with her helping to lead it as she attacked Mr Corbyn. 

In an interview with ITV, she was asked what the political differences are between her and the current party leader. 

She replied: ‘I’m more bombastic, more focused and more sharp, and I would expect more discipline in a way that Jeremy didn’t. 

‘He didn’t command respect, and he therefore wasn’t able to command that collectivism in the Labour Party. 

‘I think that’s the one thing that I’ve got, I’ve had the respect and the support of all of the parliamentary Labour Party and up and down the country most of the constituency Labour parties have supported me in this process…I resonate with people in the country in a way that Jeremy doesn’t.’ 

Mr McDonnell, who will quit the shadow cabinet and return to the backbenches when the next leader is chosen, has urged the party not to ditch what has come to be known as ‘Corbynism’. 

In a message to members, he said: ‘We fell short last year and we need to face up to the defeat.

‘But we have to learn the right lessons. We cannot win by slowly retreating from the agenda our movement fought so hard to secure.’

Mr Corbyn, pictured in Rhydyfelin, Wales on February 20, is stepping down as Labour leader after he led the party to its worst set of general election results since the 1930s

Mr Corbyn, pictured in Rhydyfelin, Wales on February 20, is stepping down as Labour leader after he led the party to its worst set of general election results since the 1930s

Who has made it into the final round of the Labour leadership contest?

Voting in the Labour leader and deputy leader contests will start next Monday and close on April 2 with the winners announced on April 4. 

There are three candidates in the running to replace Jeremy Corbyn: Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy. 

There are five candidates in the running to be the next deputy leader: Angela Rayner, Rosena Allin-Khan, Richard Burgon, Ian Murray and Dawn Butler.

Party members now have six weeks to cast their ballot but the candidates will know that many will make up their mind quickly, making the next few days crucial. 

Ms Long-Bailey is viewed as Sir Keir’s most likely challenger and yesterday she tried to kick start her campaign by attacking the frontrunner. 

‘We don’t win elections by just putting a suit on and trying to look like the most electable person in the room,’ she is reported to have said during a visit to Yorkshire. 

She has also announced plans to impose a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. 

The money generated would be spent on remedying the problems caused by climate change.  

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