John McDonnell has contacted Ken Loach after being confronted by Labour colleagues about allegations that the award-winning filmmaker described the party’s MPs as a tiny clique who had behaved disgracefully.

The shadow chancellor immediately acted on a promise to personally speak to director, whose latest film – I, Daniel Blake – has been used by Labour to highlight injustices in the welfare system around the employment support allowance (ESA).

Angela Smith, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said that Loach had criticised MPs to anti-ESA campaigners after a local screening of the film telling them: “Labour MPs are a disgrace, but they are a tiny clique and we must not let them divide us.”

She told the Guardian she was pleased with McDonnell’s “commitment to go public with his disagreement as to what Ken Loach had said” and she looked forward to seeing evidence of it.

Loach, who founded the Left Unity party in 2013, which has stood against Labour candidates, was a supporter of Corbyn and even made an hour-long documentary during Corbyn’s summer campaign to be reelected to the leadership.



In September he suggested that it was reasonable for politicians to have to fight to retain their status as the Labour candidate for a seat. “The deselection of MPs is presented as a threat [but] it is not a job for life,” he said. “Labour party members have the right to be represented by someone they choose.”

A spokesman for McDonnell said: “John has spoken with Mr Loach directly after the meeting, just as he said he would. Ken confirmed to him that he only repeated his view that it was wrong when MPs had sought to undermine Jeremy’s leadership during the summer.

“The campaign against ESA cuts has been extremely successful in raising awareness to the severity of the issue thanks to the support of individuals like Ken Loach. I, Daniel Blake is a powerful film that will reach more people than the usual campaigning methods.”

During the PLP meeting, which was tense at times, McDonnell was also pressed over failing to condemn efforts to deselect the former shadow foreign secretary, Hilary Benn, who now chairs parliament’s select committee on exiting the European Union.



Benn has clashed with Corbyn and many of his supporters since he publicly broke with the leadership over whether Britain should support military action in Syria. A decision to sack Benn after claims he was talking to colleagues about resigning from Corbyn’s front bench also triggered a mass shadow cabinet walkout, which led to a leadership challenge.

There were groans as McDonnell reiterated his argument that boundary changes meant there could be reselections and that was down to the local party, adding “that’s democracy”. He also insisted that Benn was a friend.