Labour MPs try to ward off deselection threat

As well as the rather big problem of how to get rid of a leader they think is unpalatable to the general voting public, Labour MPs also have to work out how to protect themselves from deselection. Simon Danczuk seems to be the only member keen to talk about the former, claiming today that he’s happy to be a ‘stalking horse’ if Labour performs badly in next May’s local, London and Holyrood elections. But without many colleagues backing him and the leadership contest rules and party membership remaining the same, Danczuk could find that his intervention drops like a dead donkey.

On the second question – how to prevent the new Corbynite membership from ousting non-Corbynista MPs when some constituencies are being re-allocated as a result of the boundary review – one of the party’s new and gloriously outspoken MPs Jess Phillips shared her thoughts with Pienaar’s Politics earlier today. Asked about the new ‘grassroots movement’ Momentum, the Birmingham Yardley MP said:

‘I’ve met some of the people from Momentum and they seem like two very normal individuals with very little agenda other than doing some good and I will be spreading that message among the PLP.