Labour must shift stance to Remain ‘sooner rather than later’, John McDonnell urges as party is rocked by infighting

Party also hit by a furious row over use of gagging clauses for former staffers

Labour‘s vague Brexit stance has “not worked” and the party must move towards a Remain position “sooner rather than later”, John McDonnell has said.

The shadow chancellor ramped up pressure on Jeremy Corbyn to shift his position amid fears that Boris Johnson could call a snap election in the autumn if he becomes prime minister.

Labour has been plunged into fresh rows over its Brexit stance, with Mr Corbyn appearing increasingly isolated amid reports of splits between his Eurosceptic aides and members of his own shadow cabinet.

The party was also rocked by a furious antisemitism row after it emerged some officials plan to blow the whistle over the handling of complaints.

The party’s deputy leader Tom Watson condemned the use of gagging clauses for former staff as “futile” and “stupid” ahead of a BBC Panorama documentary, which is due to be broadcast on Wednesday.

Asked about Labour’s Brexit strategy, Mr McDonnell told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I think it’s been difficult to explain to people the process we’ve gone through.

“We tried the most difficult task, which was to bring everyone together again, achieve what I used to call a very British compromise.

“Actually that’s not worked and what’s happened now is the middle ground is gone and it’s gone to either extreme, of either Remain or Leave.”

In a sign of the tensions within Labour ranks, Mr Watson recently urged party faithful to sign a declaration stating that it was a “party of Remain”.

Mr McDonnell said he agreed with the sentiment, adding: “I would vote Remain, I would want to campaign for Remain.”

He said Mr Corbyn was consulting trade unions over the coming days and there would be further shadow cabinet discussions to decide the party’s stance.

Mr McDonnell added: “We need to get to a position sooner rather than later because I genuinely do believe that Boris Johnson will come in, he will get a little bit of a bounce in the polls.

“He will go for maybe a walk in the Welsh hills like Theresa May, be overconfident and then call a general election at the beginning of September.”

The shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner also appeared to shift on his claims that Labour was “not a Remain party now”.

He told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “We have always been a Remain and reform party.

“We tried to reconcile ourselves with what the democratic will of the people was at that referendum and we tried to do that sincerely.”

It comes amid a separate row over the party’s use of gagging clauses against former staff, with around half a dozen ex-officials reportedly preparing to break their silence to Panorama.

The legal firm Carter Ruck, acting on behalf of Labour, has written to Sam Matthews, the party’s former head of disputes, warning he could face legal action for breaking his NDA, according to The Sunday Times.

The BBC documentary, entitled “Is Labour Antisemitic?”, will explore the ongoing row and feature interviews from “key insiders”.

A BBC spokesman said: “The Labour Party is criticising a programme it has not seen.

“We are confident the programme will adhere to the BBC’s editorial guidelines. In line with those, the Labour Party has been given the opportunity to respond to the allegations.”

Mr Watson tore into the decision to use “expensive media lawyers in attempt to silence staff members”, which he branded “as futile as it is stupid”.

“It’s not the Labour way and I deplore it,” he said.

But Mr Gardiner defended the use of gagging clauses, saying they were not being used to cover up wrongdoing.

He said welcomed any impartial investigation into antisemitism but claimed the programme “has not been balanced and impartial in that way”.

It involved talking to former party staff members who had a “political axe to grind”, he claimed.