Jeremy Corbyn opens door to bloody purge of Labour MPs as he calls for them to re-apply for their jobs if he is re-elected leader
Leftie says there would be a 'full selection process' in every seat before 2020 after a review of constituency boundaries
JEREMY Corbyn opened the door to a bloody purge of moderate Labour MPs if he is re-elected leader - as he called for them all to re-apply for their jobs.
Declaring war on rebels as he launched his leadership campaign, Mr Corbyn said there would be a “full selection process” in every seat before 2020 once a review of constituency boundaries has taken place.
Mr Corbyn’s comments will delight hardline union activists and leftie Corbynista supporters who have demanded mandatory re-selection to boot out rebel MPs.
But they alarmed moderates who have led an unsuccessful coup against him.
At his launch event in central London Mr Corbyn said he was offering the “hand of friendship” to colleagues who had opposed him.
The tone quickly turned more sinister as he banged the lectern to cheers from supporters to insist “it’s the job, it’s the duty, it’s the responsibility” of every MP to back the party.
And he said being an MP involved “showing loyalty to the leader, the party and the Labour movement”.
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Mr Corbyn also backed attacks on leadership rival Owen Smith’s previous job with medicines giant Pfizer.
Key Corbyn ally Diane Abbott suggested his past as a “lobbyist and PR man” meant he was unsuitable to lead a party of NHS-loving members.
And Mr Corbyn said: “I hope Owen will fully agree with me that our NHS should be free at the point of use, should be run by publicly employed workers working for the NHS not for private contractors, and medical research shouldn’t be farmed out to big pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and others but should be funded through the Medical Research Council.”
It sparked an immediate backlash from MPs.
Jamie Reed said it was “totally disgraceful” that his leader had criticised rival Owen Smith over the NHS, while Tom Blenkinsop tweeted: “Corbyn is now just talking utter garbage about pharmaceutical investment ... The man is an idiot.”
After the event, MP Wes Streeting told The Sun: “It is totally hypocritical for a man as serially disloyal as Jeremy to start dishing out lectures on loyalty.
“And his calls for re-selections tell you everything you need to know – if he is re-elected then the party will go on with a bloody civil war.”
Mr Corbyn and Mr Smith are going head-to-head for the Labour leadership, with the winner to be announced on September 24.
The contest was triggered by rebel MPs just 10 months after Mr Corbyn was elected by a landslide.