Jeremy Corbyn yet to meet Maria Eagle on Trident after asking her to lead defence review

Exclusive: Labour leader had asked shadow Defence Secretary to 'lead debate' on the nuclear deterrent

Shadow Defense Secretary Maria Eagle (Getty)

Maria Eagle has not had a single meeting with Jeremy Corbyn to discuss Trident since the Labour leader appointed her as Shadow Defence Secretary and asked her to lead a major review of the party’s policy on the nuclear deterrent.

Six weeks ago, the Labour leader, a long-term opponent of nuclear weapons, said he wanted Ms Eagle to “lead a debate” and conduct a review of Labour’s defence policy, including the renewal of Trident. Despite this, the pro-Trident defence spokeswoman has been unable to secure a one-on-one meeting with Mr Corbyn to discuss the issue.

The revelation that Mr Corbyn has failed to meet privately with such a key member of his Shadow Cabinet comes amid reports that the Labour policy-making machine is failing to function as fears grow that a major split over the future of Trident could tear the Labour front bench apart.

Only four members of the Shadow Cabinet have publicly backed Mr Corbyn’s unilateralist stance, but it was endorsed on 1 November by the Scottish Labour Party, and the Labour leader has repeatedly said that his election victory gives him the “mandate” to challenge the existing policy.

Senior Labour figures now fear that Mr Corbyn is sidelining the shadow defence team and could be preparing to use a three-line whip to force Labour MPs to vote against the renewal of Trident when the Government brings it to a vote next year.

Jeremy Corbyn with Diane Abbott, who is accused of ‘making stuff up’ about defence (Rex)

One senior Labour frontbencher complained that “there is no policy process over Trident. The review hasn’t even started yet and Maria hasn’t heard anything from Jeremy since he asked her to carry out the review”.

This follows a row over Trident on the final day of the Labour Party conference in September, when Mr Corbyn said that if he were Prime Minister he would never press the button to authorise the use of nuclear weapons.

The Shadow Defence Secretary led the charge against him as she described Mr Corbyn’s comments as unhelpful and said they “undermined to some degree” Labour’s defence review. She was quickly supported by a succession of shadow cabinet ministers, including Andy Burnham, Hilary Benn, Angela Eagle, Lord Falconer and Heidi Alexander.

A Labour frontbencher told The Independent on Sunday that if Mr Corbyn ignored the pro-Trident wing of the party and forced Labour MPs to vote against its renewal, up to a third of the Shadow Cabinet would “resign immediately”.

Despite this increasingly bitter war of words over Trident, Ms Eagle has made repeated requests for a meeting with Mr Corbyn since he first asked her to lead the review in his conference speech in September, but has been rebuffed.

In the speech Mr Corbyn, vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, announced that he had asked Ms Eagle to “lead a debate and review” into Labour’s defence policy. However, The IoS can reveal that the Labour Party has not made any funding available for the shadow defence team to commission research or hire outside experts as would normally be the case with a major policy review.

A senior Labour frontbencher commented: “This isn’t Maria’s fault. Obviously they disagree on Trident, but she has tried to arrange a meeting. It’s not for want of trying, but what’s really pissing her off is that at the same time we have the likes of Diane Abbott stomping around making stuff up on defence without even checking. It is symptomatic of how policy is not being put together by department teams but by the team around Corbyn.”

A source in Ms Eagle’s office said: “Maria has stated publicly that [the review] won’t be short. We’re a party in opposition with the next election five years away and it’s right that we take a proper look at all areas of our defence policy – that will take time.”

Mr Corbyn’s supporters have defended his leadership style, citing his “strong performance on the big issues of the economy, welfare and opposing tax credit cuts”.

A left-wing MP added: “The party’s defence review will come, but it will be evidence based, not a shackled review like the government reviews that have left us with soldiers at risk and aircraft carriers without planes.”

The row over the lack of meetings comes after Ms Eagle risked angering grassroots Labour supporters when she said that it was “very clear” that Scottish Labour’s new opposition to the renewal of Trident “does not change” party policy.

She said Scottish Labour was just “one of many” voices influencing the party’s stance and indicated that the Trident review would not be finished in time for a parliamentary vote on the issue next year.

A spokesperson for the Shadow Defence Secretary told The IoS: “There’s a meeting in the diary. We are in the process of deciding the timeline for our defence review.”