Labour party

My favourite comment about Angela Eagle came from some unnamed spiteful Corbynista MP who, with reference to her twin sister Maria, a former cabinet minister, observed that Angela was ‘the lesser of two Eagles’ and ‘not even the best politician in her own family’. Perhaps he was the bloke who chucked a brick through Mrs Eagle’s office window this week, or left the succinct, if politically incorrect, answerphone message for her: ‘fucking bitch’. Although there are two or three hundred thousand semi-house-trained infants in the Momentum movement who might well have behaved likewise, I suppose. Feelings are running a little high across the political spectrum, aren’t they? This is becoming the Summer of Visceral Loathing.

Labour MPs are becoming increasingly agitated about the amount of abuse and intimidation they are receiving, to the extent that the party’s chief whip has complained to Jeremy Corbyn and written to the head of Corbynite group Momentum to seek assurances that it is cracking down on bad behaviour in its ranks. Rosie Winterton has been writing to Jon Lansman, who chairs Momentum, over the past week about allegations from a number of Labour MPs about activists from the group. The group has officially made it clear that people shouldn’t be protesting outside MPs’ offices, or intimidating their staff. But many parliamentarians are extremely upset by the level of abuse they are receiving, not just online but at meetings too.

Jeremy Corbyn will be on the Labour leadership ballot. After a contentious meeting that lasted for almost six hours, the party’s National Executive Committee have ruled by 18-14 that as the incumbent his name will appear automatically on the ballot paper and so there is no need for him to gather nominations from MPs and MEPs. This is a massive victory for Corbyn and his wing of the party. He is now favourite to win this leadership election and if he does, the 172 Labour MPs who voted no confidence in him will either have to shut up or split off and form their own party. Crucially, if they leave after Corbyn has won again, it will be Corbyn and the hard left who will be left in possession of the Labour name and the party apparatus.

With Angela Eagle clear that she will run to be the next Labour leader and Jeremy Corbyn willing to contest any such challenge, the Labour party is in a state of stalemate until Tuesday's meeting of the National Executive Committee. At the crunch meeting, the NEC will announce whether or not Corbyn is automatically on the ballot -- with a legal challenge expected whatever the result. So with the result looming, Monday's PLP meeting proved to be a rather muted affair as MPs wait to learn their party's fate. Tom Watson's spokesman described the mood as 'not the greatest', while John Mann walked out halfway through complaining that Emily Thornberry was 'prattling on'. However, the Deputy Leader did do his best to soothe party tensions.

After weeks of uncertainty, the Labour coup is officially on. While Jeremy Corbyn made clear on Marr that he has no intention of stepping down, Angela Eagle has done the rounds on Peston and Sunday Politics declaring that she will run for leader if Corbyn refuses to go. So with a fresh leadership election on the horizon, it's now on Eagle to make the case for her candidacy. In an interview with Andrew Neil on Sunday Politics, Eagle argued that Corbyn's position was untenable now he had lost the confidence of the majority of the PLP -- stating that he couldn't 'lead behind a closed door'. She also argued that Labour's electoral performance under Corbyn was not up to par, and that they should strive for better results.

Finally, the Labour coup is about to begin. Or at least, Labour MPs are talking about the fact that the Labour coup is about to begin, after weeks of threatening it. After talks between the party’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson and Labour’s trade union backers broke up today, Angela Eagle has said she will launch her leadership challenge to Jeremy Corbyn on Monday. The talks broke down because Corbyn would not resign and the parliamentary Labour party would not accept his leadership after voting overwhelmingly in favour of a motion of no confidence two weeks ago, and so there was no possible compromise to reach. Corbyn’s camp are confident that they have the support of Labour members.

Things have gone mysteriously quiet in the Labour party. Every so often, Len McCluskey and Tom Watson emerge from a meeting, asking their comrades to give them a little bit more time before any of them move against Jeremy Corbyn. And nothing seems to happen. How much more time do the plotters need to give the unions and the party’s deputy leader before they give up and make a move on the leader? Or have thy already given up, and decided that they can’t defeat him and that it’s all over? Some reports in the past few days suggest that Labour MPs have marched all the way up the hill by resigning from the frontbench and passing a vote of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn, only to get close to the summit and realise they don’t like heights.

Tom Watson this evening told the weekly meeting of the parliamentary Labour party that he is taking a ‘last throw of the dice’ before there is a move against Jeremy Corbyn. The party’s deputy leader held a 20-minute meeting with Corbyn this morning in which he warned him that he had to have the authority of the parliamentary Labour party, and that it wasn’t good enough just to have the support of the members. In response, Corbyn told Watson that he wanted to continue as Labour leader, but Watson’s spokesman said it was clear that there wasn’t a solution that involved Corbyn staying on as leader. Neil Kinnock also gave a rousing, booming speech to the meeting which received plenty of cheers from MPs.