More than 100 former party workers sign letter after talk by Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters of ‘clearing them out’

More than a hundred former Labour staff have signed a letter urging Jeremy Corbyn and his team to respect the party’s workers, amid fears that senior figures, including general secretary Iain McNicol, could be pushed aside.

The letter says that despite working long hours and having little job security, party staff “remain completely loyal to the party and to their employers, and the least they are entitled to expect is some loyalty and respect in return. To hear members of the Labour party attack their own employees is depressing; to hear talk about ‘clearing them out’ is unacceptable; to hear such statements from the most senior level is intolerable”.

Signatories include two of McNicol’s predecessors, Lord Collins and Peter Watt; and more than a hundred other former Labour staff.

McNicol was involved in the national executive committee’s decision to impose a six month cutoff on members eligible for a vote in the leadership contest – and to defend it through the courts.

Allies of Corbyn, who see McNicol as working with the party’s deputy leader Tom Watson to frustrate the leadership, have suggested the general secretary’s position could be under threat if Corbyn is re-elected in September.

In an interview in the Observer earlier this week, Corbyn refused to endorse McNicol, saying only “we will receive a report from Iain about the process that has gone on over the last few months. And the NEC [national executive committee] will no doubt ask him questions and he will give answers on it. But let’s look at that when the new NEC takes over”.

Corbyn’s team was also accused of being “petty” last month when aides to resigning shadow ministers found their parliamentary passes abruptly withdrawn.

Corbyn’s supporters won all six of the seats on the NEC contested in recent elections, which is expected to strengthen his hand on the party’s key governing body. Relations between the leader’s office and Labour headquarters have frequently been testy and a number of key staff have left.

The letter from former party workers said: “We call on all party members, whatever their view or role in the leadership election, to treat their staff as they themselves would expect to be treated by their own employers. Campaigning for the rights of working people is exactly what the Labour party should be doing and that includes the rights of the people we ourselves employ.”

Lord Collins, who helped to draw up the rules under which Corbyn swept to the top of Labour last year, said: “Political parties are complex voluntary organisations. There are critical balances to be held between members, their elected representatives, affiliated organisations and representatives elected to various parliaments and councils by the public.”

Corbyn, who faced Owen Smith in the latest party hustings on Thursday night, is widely expected to win a fresh mandate after the bruising leadership contest, which was called after scores of MPs resigned from his shadow cabinet and 172 withheld their support in a motion of no confidence.

A spokesperson for the Jeremy for Labour campaign said: “Those people who work for our party deserve the respect and gratitude owed to them, there should be no room for abuse of staff or anyone else in our party.”