Jeremy Corbyn is trying to forge a conditional peace deal with Labour politicians after there was a major fallout from his campaign team leaking a “hit list” of 13 Labour MPs who allegedly abused him and his supporters.
Corbyn told The Guardian newspaper in an interview on Saturday that his team is working on a peace deal for warring politicians within his party and that he would invite MPs to rejoin the frontbench as long as they supported him in his aim to implement anti-austerity policies.
“I will put it to them that I’ve got a mandate, if I’m elected. I’ll put it to them that the mandate is about the policies I’m trying to put forward. Not every dot and comma and crossed t, or whatever. But it is the general direction of the economy and policy. And I’ll invite them to work with us,” he told The Guardian.
“I’ll rely on the best natures that can come out. A lot of people say lots of things in the heat of the moment. But of course I’ve made mistakes, and of course we need to do better. We certainly can’t carry on as we did.
“Whether they’re going to love me at the end of it? I think the love may be further away.”
Corbyn became leader of the Labour party one year ago when he won by a landslide victory. However, his leadership has split the party. While he has a hardcore membership following, MPs and even the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan have said if Corbyn stays as leader, Labour has no chance of bringing the party to power during the next general election.
Currently, Owen Smith is competing against Corbyn for the leadership role this month, and while he has the majority backing of Labour party politicians, polls show that it is almost certain that members will vote with a huge majority for Corbyn.
This month, Corbyn's camp fanned the flames of the internal party war when people from his campaign leaked a list of people they consider "hostile" to Corbyn and his supporters.
The briefing, which became public on Wednesday evening before Corbyn went head-to-head with Owen Smith for Sky News, denounces a handful of high-profile MPs. The list included Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, and MPs Jess Phillips, Tristram Hunt, and Neil Kinnock.
Unsurprisingly, the list exacerbated tensions between Corbyn and MPs who have been critical of his leadership. An MP who was named on the list told the New Statesman: "With one breath Jeremy calls for unity and for the party to come together and with the next they publish this anonymous hit-list. I think members will be really dismayed."