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Jeremy Corbyn wins NEC vote over right to stand again for Labour leadership Jeremy Corbyn wins NEC vote over right to stand again for Labour leadership
(about 2 hours later)
Jeremy Corbyn has narrowly survived a row over Labour Party rules that could have seen him ousted from the leadership without party members getting another chance to vote over his future.Jeremy Corbyn has narrowly survived a row over Labour Party rules that could have seen him ousted from the leadership without party members getting another chance to vote over his future.
After a tense meeting lasting several hours, Labour’s national executive decided in a secret ballot that the party leader has an automatic right to be on the ballot paper to fight to keep his job against any challenger.  The ruling makes it highly likely that Mr Corbyn will win the leadership contest triggered by Angela Eagle’s announcement that she is standing against him.
Party members and supporters will get to choose between Mr Corbyn and his challenger, the former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle Mr Corbyn’s backers had feared that the executive would force him to find 50 Labour MPs or MEPs – a fifth of the parliamentary party – prepared to sign his nomination papers before his name could go on to the ballot paper. The leader’s support among fellow MPs has hit such a low point that it is unlikely that he would be able to find that many supporters in the Commons.
In an unprecedented move, Mr Corbyn was asked to leave the room while the executive decided his future. Initially he refused, but later agreed, and waited in a nearby room to learn his fate But after a six hour meeting, the executive accepted Mr Corbyn’s claim that he had an automatic right to stand again.
With his place in the contest assured, Mr Corbyn’s supporters are confident that party members and supporters who voted overwhelmingly for him nine months ago will rally to him again, securing his place as party leader.  Ms Eagle, one of more than 60 members of Labour’s front bench who resigned in protest at Mr Corbyn’s leadership, said: "I'm glad Labour's NEC has come to a decision. I welcome the contest ahead. And I am determined to win it."
The dispute was over how to interpret a rule which lays down the conditions under which a sitting Labour leader can be challenged. It specifies that any challenger must collect nominations from at least one in five Labour MPs or MEPs, a hurdle Angela Eagle had crossed before she declared on Monday morning that she intends to challenge Mr Corbyn. Labour Party members and supporters who gave Mr Corbyn an overwhelming mandate nine months ago will now get a second chance to vote for him.
The rule book did not spell out whether the same applied to a sitting leader who chooses to fight on when challenged. Mr Corbyn’s support among fellow MPs has hit such a low point that it is unlikely that he could have found the 50 backers he would have needed. But the Labour leader suffered an important set back when the executive decided to tighten the rules about who can vote in a leadership contest.
The issue has roused such passions that barriers had to be put up outside Labour’s headquarters in Victoria Street, Westminster, where about 100 sympathisers turned out in support of Jeremy Corbyn. Last time it was open to anyone prepared to pay £3 - and it was the £3 supporters, more than the paid up party members, who gave Jeremy Corbyn his swingeing victory.
This time, supporters will have to re-register and pay £25. And the thousand of new recruits  who have joined the party since the referendum will have to pay that fee if they want to vote, because the executive has ruled only those who have been party members for at least six months will have an automatic right to vote.
A Corbyn victory will exacerbate the rift between Labour MPs, three quarters of whom have backed a motion of no confidence in Mr Corbyn, and the mostly young activists around the country for whom Corbyn’s election last year has given a new meaning and purpose to politics.
The anger which the dispute has generated has threatened at times to turn to violence. A brick thrown through the window of Angela Eagle's constituency party office in Wallasey is assumed to have been a political act – though Mr Corbyn has condemned all such actions, whether by his supporters or his political opponents.
A meeting that Ms Eagle was due to address in a hotel in Luton had to be moved to a new venue at short notice after the hotel received threats. An obscene message was left on the phone in her Commons office. Her angela4leader Facebook page had been deluged with messages taunting her and showing support for Jeremy Corbyn.
Dozens of Mr Corbyn’s supporters turned up outside Labour’s Westminster headquarters to show support as the executive met to decide an issue which threatened to cut Mr Corbyn’s leadership short without party members being able to vote on his future.
The Labour Party rule book specifies that when a sitting leader is challenged, any challenger must secure the nominations of at least one fifth of all Labour MPs and MEPs, a hurdle Angela Eagle crossed without difficulty before launching her bid for the leadership on Monday.
The executive was presented with conflicting legal advice on whether the same rule applies to a sitting leader. Mr Corbyn adamantly claimed that he had an automatic right to stand and should not be required to seek any nominations.
Two hours into a tense it appeared that the mood might be swinging against Mr Corbyn when the executive decided by 17 votes to 15 to hold a secret ballot. The Labour leader was asked to leave the room while his case was discussed. At first he refused, but then agreed to wait in another room in the same building, He later went back into the meeting and took part in the vote.
The executive had also been sent a letter from a solicitors’ firm, Howe & Co., complaining that the meeting had been called at too short notice and putting the executive on “the clearest notice” that if they did not allow Mr Corbyn’s name to go on the ballot automatically, they would face an injunction in a high court to get their decision reversed.The executive had also been sent a letter from a solicitors’ firm, Howe & Co., complaining that the meeting had been called at too short notice and putting the executive on “the clearest notice” that if they did not allow Mr Corbyn’s name to go on the ballot automatically, they would face an injunction in a high court to get their decision reversed.
 
 
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