Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti opposed plans to stop prisoners using mobile phones at a private meeting of Labour leaders

Jeremy Corbyn faced a new revolt last night over claims that his ally, Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti, opposes plans to stop prisoners using mobile phones.

The Shadow Attorney General caused uproar at a private meeting of Labour leaders when, it is claimed, she questioned the need to crack down on prisoners’ use of smartphones in jails, which is aimed at cutting links to drugs and organised crime.

According to one source, Baroness Chakrabarti said: ‘This might sound naive, but I am not sure we should be doing this. We need to consider the rights of prisoners.’

A senior Labour insider said: ‘People couldn’t believe it. It sums up how out of touch the leadership is under Corbyn and his cronies.’

Last week, the Government unveiled new plans to curb the use of phones by inmates.

John Attard, national officer of the Prison Governors’ Association, last night stressed the importance of stopping prisoners using them.

He said: ‘We need to crack down on mobile phones in prisons – not encourage them.

They allow prisoners to potentially continue criminal activity by intimidating witnesses or arranging drugs deliveries.’

Mr Corbyn faced another leadership crisis yesterday after being beaten by the Tories in the Copeland by-election in Cumbria

Asked if she had questioned taking mobile phones from prisoners, a spokeswoman for Baroness Chakrabarti said: ‘We do not comment on leaks from confidential team meetings.’

The peer’s alleged comments were disclosed as Mr Corbyn faced another leadership crisis yesterday after being beaten by the Tories in the Copeland by-election in Cumbria. Amid mounting concern over the Labour leader’s position:

Deputy leader Tom Watson launched a thinly veiled attack on Mr Corbyn, saying ‘things have to change’ and making clear Labour should never have lost Copeland;

Ayesha Hazarika, a former aide to Mr Corbyn’s predecessor Ed Miliband, called on Mr Corbyn to quit to save Labour;

Moderate Labour MPs privately welcomed a statement by former Foreign Secretary David Miliband, hinting at a possible comeback;

Mr Corbyn issued a Donald Trump-style demand to John Cryer, the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, to ban his MPs from criticising him.

PS more seats he can't fill Just a handful of Unison trade union members heard his address at the Union Chapel, Islington Even Labour voters in Jeremy Corbyn’s North London heartland cannot be bothered to turn out for him. On Thursday, as his party humiliatingly lost its seat in Copeland, Cumbria, to the Tories, Corbyn was 320 miles away in Islington, where he lives. But just a handful of Unison trade union members heard his address at the Union Chapel. Advertisement

The row over the alleged comments by Baroness Chakrabarti, former head of civil rights group Liberty, comes weeks after she was accused of launching a ‘shameful’ defence of disgraced human rights lawyer Phil Shiner. He was struck off for orchestrating a witch-hunt against British troops.

And in January, she was accused of hypocrisy after launching a women-only degree fund, despite girls doing better than boys at university.

The peer, who sends her son to an £18,000-a-year private school, claimed the initiative would close the ‘education gender gap’.

Yesterday’s comments by Mr Watson, who will be stand-in leader if Mr Corbyn steps down, herald a damaging new Labour rift.

In a speech to the Scottish Labour conference he said: ‘Seven years into a Tory government, we shouldn’t be facing questions about whether we can retain the seats we already hold.’

Deputy leader Tom Watson launched a thinly veiled attack on Mr Corbyn, saying ‘things have to change’ and making clear Labour should never have lost Copeland

And Bermondsey Labour MP Neil Coyle, who canvassed in Copeland, railed: ‘Corbyn’s cronies rant and rave that he was not to blame for our latest defeat, but the opposite is true.’

Mr Coyle said former supporters told him they would prefer a Labour government ‘but can’t vote for you with Corbyn in charge’.

It is also understood that Mr Corbyn has privately begged Mr Cryer, who chairs the weekly meeting of Labour MPs, to stop them raising his dire opinion poll ratings with him in person. Mr Cryer refused.

And there was more infighting yesterday among union leaders. Unite official Gerald Coyne, who hopes to oust general secretary Len McCluskey, criticised him for keeping quiet after Copeland.

Mr Coyne said: ‘He has spent six years funding Corbyn and bullied those who disagreed with him but today when Labour faces its biggest crisis in 50 years… he is nowhere to be seen or heard.’

A Unite spokesman said: ‘Len McCluskey has been focused on defending members’ pensions and fighting to save jobs. He will leave the political posturing to others.’

Only Jeremy can save Labour now - by quitting

BY AYESHA HAZARIKA, FORMER AIDE TO ED MILIBAND

After the disaster of the Copeland by-election, only one man can now save the Labour Party – Jeremy Corbyn.

Only he can rescue us from meltdown at the next general election and the prospect of being out of power for a generation.

Sadly for Jeremy, it involves him taking the hardest of decisions for a politician and admitting that he simply isn’t up to the job.

After the disaster of the Copeland by-election, only one man can now save the Labour Party – Jeremy Corbyn

Since his big relaunch in the new year, Labour lags 18 points behind the Tories, Corbyn’s personal ratings are lower than Michael Foot’s and now we have lost Copeland, a seat we have held since the 1930s, the latest sign that working-class voters are turning to Theresa May.

We all know Jeremy has a mandate from Labour members who elected him.

But it’s no use banging on about how many members Labour has if we can’t translate that into votes where it matters – at the ballot box.

Sadly for Jeremy, it involves him taking the hardest of decisions for a politician and admitting that he simply isn’t up to the job

Sadly, Jeremy is surrounded by a coterie of advisers and friends who misguidedly think their duty is to tell him to stay on, regardless of what that means for the future of the party, the country and people who desperately need a Labour Government.

I admire Jeremy for standing up for social justice and the dispossessed. But he is not a leader and never will be.

When I observed recently that he has all the charisma and leadership skills of a Hula Hoop – I received a barrage of criticism from people who said I was being unfair to the savoury snack which, unlike Jeremy, is both popular and loved by the public.

For someone who prides himself on being a decent man, there is a whiff of arrogance about his refusal to take any responsibility for what happened in Copeland.

Part of leadership is having the humility to admit when things are not going so well and to be big enough to acknowledge that you may be part of the problem.

That is not to say all the troubles facing the Labour Party are Jeremy’s fault. Many things were wrong before he became leader, but things are getting worse, not better, on his watch.

Corbyn’s circle are wrong to claim that divisions in the party have made us plummet in the polls.

Sadly, Jeremy is surrounded by a coterie of advisers and friends who misguidedly think their duty is to tell him to stay on, regardless of what that means for the future of the party, the country and people who desperately need a Labour Government, writes Ayesha Hazarika (pictured)

Despite the Copeland fiasco, there will be no repeat of last summer’s ill-advised leadership challenge against him.

Jeremy won with an increased mandate and Labour MPs have decided to keep their heads down, shut up and let him get on with it.

Even though there is no question of a putsch, I believe there is a profound moral question for Corbyn.

As someone desperate to see a Labour Government again, I beg you Jeremy: look into your soul and ponder deeply if you really are the right leader.

No man is bigger than the Labour movement.

Is your clinging on as leader more important than Labour’s very survival as a major political force?

If you think deeply, I think you will come to the only honest conclusion: you will stand down for the sake of the party I know that you love.

Ukip donor: Expel Carswell or I'm off

BY GLEN OWEN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

A key Ukip donor has warned embattled leader Paul Nuttall that he will abandon the party in the wake of the Stoke by-election fiasco unless he kicks out members who defected from he Tories – including Ukip’s only MP, Douglas Carswell.

In an extraordinary move, Arron Banks said that unless Mr Nuttall agreed to ‘toss out’ the ‘dullards’ as part of an overhaul of the party then Ukip was ‘finished’.

He said: ‘This level of chaos cannot continue. Ukip is meant to be a political party, not a jumble sale’.

Key Ukip donor Arron Banks has warned embattled leader Paul Nuttall that he will abandon the party in the wake of the Stoke by-election fiasco unless he kicks out the party's only MP, Douglas Carswell

Mr Banks, who gave £1 million to Ukip before the General Election and £7 million to Nigel Farage’s wing of the Brexit campaign, said Mr Carswell should be stripped of his membership, along with health spokeswoman Suzanne Evans and Welsh leader Neil Hamilton, also former Tories.

Last night Ms Evans hit back by saying it would be ‘no great loss’ if Mr Banks severed his ties with the party.

The civil war has erupted in the wake of Ukip’s disastrous performance in the Stoke-on-Trent by-election, where Mr Nuttall came a distant second to Labour, despite the area voting 70 per cent for Brexit in the EU referendum.

Mr Banks told this newspaper that unless Ukip became more professional then the £10,000 he put towards the Stoke campaign would be his last donation: in future, his money would be spent on a new grassroots political movement he was establishing.

‘Ukip should be a well-oiled machine,’ said Mr Banks. ‘If Paul Nuttall doesn’t professionalise Ukip and toss out the Tory cabal then it is finished.

‘These dullards aren’t bringing in Tory votes – Stoke proved that – so what are they for?’

After losing the Copeland by-election one thing is certain, writes Labour MP NEIL COYLE, to ignore the elephant in the room of leadership and strategy is to head straight to la la land

BY NEIL COYLE, LABOUR MP FOR BERMONDSEY AND OLD SOUTHWARK

The Copeland by-election result was disastrous for Labour. To pretend otherwise marks a new point of denial. The last Tory to win the area was born in 1879.

Jeremy Corbyn’s initial response was to say he would do more ‘to reconnect with voters’.

However, this has been undermined through further appearances, tweets and releases from his inner team who have attempted to claim Copeland was a success, or sought to blame the loss on Tony Blair, the media and even Storm Doris.

The Copeland by-election result was disastrous for Labour. Jeremy Corbyn’s initial response was to say he would do more ‘to reconnect with voters’

To do so is to fail to listen to, or hear, what voters have been telling us very clearly. No 'reconnection' can occur in the midst of such denial.

Labour should have thrashed the Tories in Copeland. We had a fantastic local candidate in Gillian Troughton and Theresa May gave her plenty to campaign on. Mrs May has been part of the Conservative governments that have cut back local public services. Mrs May refused to say the West Cumberland Hospital would not face ward closures.

Yet, she emerged triumphant in Copeland. Corbyn's cronies rant and rave that he was not to blame for our latest defeat, but the exact opposite is true.

When I cavassed in Copeland, time after time I met the same depressing response on doorsteps from potential and former Labour voters: ‘We would prefer a Labour Government normally but can’t vote for you with Corbyn in charge'.

The Tories had very little to offer hard pressed voters in Copeland but secured a swing of almost seven percent. The important thing is what Labour does now. One thing is certain: to ignore the elephant in the room, leadership and strategy, is to head from Copeland to la la land.

Mr Corbyn must draw up a new plan to counter voters' concerns. The hard work should have already begun, but this job will be all the tougher if we are not honest enough to understand why we lost in Copeland.

We owe it to the millions of people who have, want to and will vote Labour again to get on with the task now.