Jeremy Corbyn has asked Labour MPs to “stop sniping” at him through "anonymous briefings" and his support his leadership. The early signs are that many MPs are not inclined to follow those orders.
The Labour leader warned MPs at Monday night's meeting of the parliamentary Labour party that the “sniping has to stop” so the party can “unite to take on the Tories” in May’s elections.
Corbyn's spokesperson told journalists after the meeting that it is a “small minority” of Labour’s MPs who have been attacking the leader in the media, and the party has now "drawn a line in the sand" by agreeing to move on and work as one.
“There is clear support for a more united approach,” said the spokesperson, suggesting MPs who disagree have failed to accept the scale of Corbyn’s victory in last year’s leadership election.
The spokesperson emphasised how Corbyn “faced down his critics” in the meeting and insisted the majority of Labour MPs are now firmly behind the party leader. Instead they said the opposition is from “a small minority in the [parliamentary Labour party] and doesn’t reflect what Labour members and voters want”.
MPs were also warned not to brief journalists on what happened in the private meeting, which took place in the House of Commons. But many ignored this suggestion and continued to complain about the Labour leader's performance, painting a different picture of events inside the weekly meeting.
One Labour MP told BuzzFeed News the mood in the room was confrontational, with MPs blaming Corbyn for the lack of a clear campaign message going into May's local elections.
“We got a ticking off about message discipline and Jeremy Corbyn got a ticking off from us about message discipline," one MP said.
“We’ll on be on message ahead of the elections now,” they added, apparently joking.
There was particular criticism among Labour MPs over Corbyn’s decision to discuss his personal view that there could be a case for decriminalising prostitution. In the meeting Fiona McTaggart and Stella Creasy fiercely attacked any suggestion Labour could change its policy and learn from European regulatory models. Instead they insisted he should not air such views in public if they have not been agreed upon.
Some Labour MPs spoke in support of Corbyn but others urged the Labour leader to do more to campaign for Britain to remain in the EU, while also criticising his position on potential negotiation with Argentina over the future of the Falkland Islands.
As a result not all Labour MPs were convinced a corner had been turned and the party unified. Instead, one referred to the post-meeting briefing by Corbyn’s team as a “Comical Ali clusterfuck”, in reference to Saddam Hussein’s former propaganda minister.