Politics: LABOUR PAINS

by Pay Waugh | Opinion

* Paul Waugh

Helen Goodman certainly knows how to chuck a cat among the pigeons. Her amendment to the Welfare Bill - with upto 40 MPs ready to back it - is a direct challenge to Harriet Harman’s authority. As Goodman a backer of Yvette Cooper’s campaign, there’s the inevitable suspicion that this is authorised.

But as last week’s spat over ‘mummy wars’ proved, Goodman is her own person, and Team Cooper point out they had nothing to do with the new amendment. Harman will have to come up with an answer pretty soon.

Meanwhile that private polling in the Statesman caused a right old kerfuffle last night, putting Jeremy Corbyn in the lead by upto 15 points. Kendall camp manager Toby Perkins said it proved there was a straight choice between a new start or a return to the 1980s Left.

One Burnham supporter told me:”Yeah he's right. There is a race between Liz and Jeremy. It's for 4th bloody place." As I pointed out last night, Burnham is close to 50 CLP nominations.

Corbyn is announcing today an end to uni tuition fees, apologising for New Labour’s big reform. The Telegraph has published today a separate step-by-step guide for its readers to sign up as £3 Labour supporters to ‘help Jeremy Corbyn win - and destroy the Labour party’. Darren Hughes, deputy chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, tells the Guardian the paper’s move is ‘cynical’.

Speaking of Labour splits, there’s a scathing joint letter to the Guardian today from Khalid Mahmood and Shaid Malik, slating Sadiq Khan’s ‘self serving revisionism’ in claiming he stood up to Tony Blair in a No.10 meeting the week after 7/7.

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* Paul Waugh, is the Executive Editor, Politics, HuffingtonPost UK.