The behind-the-scenes battle for Labour’s future

Emily Thornberry called out Jeremy Corbyn’s key allies on the radio – but failed to mention them by name, writes John Rentoul

Emily Thornberry speaks during a People’s Vote rally in Brighton in September (AFP)

Emily Thornberry, shadow foreign secretary and now a candidate for the Labour leadership, said yesterday: “I think that Jeremy has been badly advised.” She meant Seumas Milne, the party’s director of strategy and communications, and Karie Murphy, who ran the Labour leader’s office before being moved to a campaign role at party HQ for the election.

I suppose it is more decorous to avoid attacking people by name, but Emily “They Can’t Make Up S*** About Me” Thornberry is not always known for holding back. So what is going on?

Part of the explanation is that Thornberry knows Milne and Murphy are still powerful members of the clique that controls the Labour Party. Corbyn’s supporters, organised through Momentum among party members and through people such as Len McCluskey in the trade unions, still have a majority on the party’s national executive committee – and it is the NEC that will decide the timetable and the rules for the leadership election.