Luciana Berger, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree, was challenged to get behind the leadership after previously calling for a new party leader

A Labour MP has been warned she needs to “get on board” with Jeremy Corbyn after his supporters won control of the local party, amid growing concerns among critics of the party leader that they could face deselection before the next election.



Luciana Berger, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree, was challenged to get behind the leadership after eight out of 10 positions in the constituency Labour party went to Corbyn loyalists.

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Soon after winning his new role, Roy Bentham, the trade union liaison officer, told the Liverpool Echo: “Luciana needs to get on board quite quickly now.

“She will now have to sit round the table with us the next time she wants to vote for bombing in Syria or to pass a no-confidence motion in the leader of the party – she will have to be answerable to us.”

Officials on the Wavertree executive later dissociated themselves from Bentham’s comments. But it comes at a time when Momentum, the grassroots movement of Corbyn supporters, is growing in strength in local constituency parties following Labour’s better than expected performance at the general election.

A Momentum group in South Tyneside posted a list on its Facebook group of 49 MPs, including Chuka Ummuna and Chris Leslie, that they said should leave Labour to “join the Liberals”. The post was taken down and disavowed by the national movement, which is working to dispel the idea that it wants to see MPs deselected.

A spokesman said: “It was a post by a local Momentum group, not by Momentum national. When we found the post we got in touch with the local group and they were happy to take it down as it didn’t accord with Momentum’s aims and values. In an organisation of 27,000 members, people will sometimes express views that aren’t representative of the organisation.”

Supporters of Corbyn in the Brighton and Hove Labour party passed a motion last week in favour of making it easier to deselect MPs. Peter Kyle, the MP for Hove, has in the past been critical of the leader, although he strongly increased his majority at the election.



The proposed change would mean MPs required a positive reselection vote by two-thirds of members – across two-thirds of eligible organisations – to be safe from a reselection battle.



Allies of Corbyn in parliament have also suggested it could be time for a change in the rules to make sure MPs have the support of their local members.

Chris Williamson, a strong supporter of Corbyn and a shadow minister, said there were “interest groups and individual MPs in this party who think it’s their God-given right to rule”.



“No MP should be guaranteed a job for life and it’s crucial that we all get with the times,” he said. “MPs elected in earlier phases of this party run the risk of failing to understand what is really going on out there in society. Although this party’s hundreds of thousands of new members were once demonised, the election has shown that the political instincts of these members are in line with popular opinion. For our party to succeed these members must be listened to.”

He added: “Yes Labour is a big church, but we currently have a large bulk of MPs who represent one relatively small tendency in the congregation. To keep Labour fresh and updated we need MPs who can win the support of the mass membership.

“Where I think critics of mandatory reselection are mistaken are in trying to view the Corbyn phenomenon through the lens of the 1970s and 80s, when the militant left was small and ideologically driven. Today, the bulk of Labour’s new members don’t see the new politics as left or right, they see it as a matter of right or wrong.

“Those MPs who are popular with their members, which may well be the vast majority, should have no problem getting reselected. But it’s unreasonable to think we as MPs can avoid any contest.”

Supporters of Berger, who is on maternity leave, rallied round their colleague. John Woodcock, the MP for Barrow and a persistent Corbyn critic, responded by tweeting:

John Woodcock (@JWoodcockMP) Luciana Berger a brilliant MP and lovely person. Real Labour people would back her up while she is on mat leave, not try to intimidate her.

Frank Hont, a Liverpool councillor who lost his officer position to Bentham, said Bentham’s comments did not reflect the views of the wider constituency party.

“I think it’s unfortunate what Roy Bentham said to the Echo. I think it’s divisive and unhelpful at a time like this, when we are all focused on getting a Labour government.”

Hont, who voted for Andy Burnham in the first leadership election in 2015, said that before Tuesday’s annual general meeting in Wavertree, a list was circulated containing a “slate” of names said to have supported Corbyn “from the outset”.

Bentham, a prominent anti-Sun campaigner in Liverpool, was expelled from Ucatt, the union for construction workers, which merged with Unite at the start of the year. He is now a Unite branch secretary and a member of its executive council.

Following Bentham’s comments Berger issued a joint statement with Angela Kehoe-Jones, the new constituency Labour chair. It said: “The Labour party in Liverpool Wavertree is a vibrant, democratic organisation with around 1,800 members. Quite rightly, the members elect officers of the party to oversee its work.

“We are united in wanting to secure a new general election and the return of a Labour government under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn as soon as possible.”

The new Wavertree Labour executive also said Bentham’s remarks did not represent their position, adding that they were looking forward to working with Berger.

“We must disassociate ourselves from remarks made by one of our officers, who did not speak on behalf of the executive. The views he has expressed do not, in any way, represent the position of the [constituency Labour party] officers,” they said.



Berger, who gave birth to her first child in March, increased her majority by more than 5,000, to 29,466, in the general election. She quit the shadow cabinet in June 2016, stepping down from her position as shadow health minister and calling for a new leader to unify the Labour party.

