Jeremy Corbyn’s “authenticity” has been damaged by refusing to commit Labour more fully to holding a second referendum, one of his key allies has warned.
Laura Parker, the national coordinator of the Momentum campaign group that propelled Corbyn to power, said a “Blairite Third Way” of sitting on the fence on Brexit had not worked.
Parker, who stood as an MEP candidate at the European elections, said the Labour leadership should have acted “more decisively” earlier to throw its weight behind another public vote.
In an interview with a podcast produced by the For our Future’s Sake’s youth wing of the People’s Vote campaign, Parker said remaining in the EU was “integral” to Labour forming a successful government.
Her comments are a further sign of the splits emerging among Corbyn’s top team over Brexit, as well as dissatisfaction among the party’s grassroots.
Corbyn yesterday once again postponed firming up his commitment to holding a second referendum following a heated meeting of the shadow cabinet.
John McDonnell, who is in favour of another public vote, warned the Labour leader the party’s policy was now “a slow-moving car crash”.
But other key players, including the Unite union and party chairman Ian Lavery, are opposed to moving the party to a more explicitly Remain position.
Parker said Lavery should be the “honest broker” in the debate within the party “a bit like the speaker” over whether to hold a referendum, rather than setting out his own view.
“I think probably the role of the chair of the party should be to transcend actually taking either side,” she said.
“I think a successful Labour government, probably staying in the EU is integral to it. But I also don’t want to bin everything about the Corbyn project just because of Brexit.”
Parker, who was reported to previously be Corbyn’s private secretary, said: “I would have liked the leadership to have moved more decisively earlier.”
Asked whether Corbyn’s approach to Brexit appeared at odds with his pledge to listen to the membership of the party, she said: “I think simple authenticity has taken a hit. There’s no way round it.
“I think Jeremy genuinely wanted to find a consensus way through and that’s where I was for a long time.
“And actually, ultimately, it’s an In/Out thing and there isn’t really a Blairite Third Way on this.”
“In the hierarchy of what counts, does honouring the result of people who are largely fed up and might not have voted before in 2016 count more or less than your membership, when you have talked about developing member-led party? There is no easy way round.
“I think there was a point a few months ago when actually the story should have just been told ‘we did do the right thing, we honoured the result we have tried to make it work, we have all learnt a lot more and given all these various complexities the only thing I can now fall upon is the point of principle’.
“But which principle is it? Is it that you want to listen to the people in 2016 or that you think Brexit is a bad idea.”
Parker’s bid to become and MEP in May failed as Labour fell backwards at the European elections - while the overtly pro-EU Lib Dems and hardline Brexit Party surged.
“The Labour Party needs to put its full machine behind the next effort.,” Parker said. “I tried my hardest.”
This morning veteran Labour MP Margaret Beckett said Corbyn’s inner-circle “don’t give a toss” about what Labour members or voters want. “I’m beginning to think that some of them do actually want Britain to leave the EU no matter what,” she told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.