Moves are underway among hard-left factions within Labour to have Jeremy Corbyn reinstated as an MP for the party.
Supporters of the MP are seeking to change party rules which would allow members to have the final say over disciplinary action taken against MPs.
The push is being led by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, which aims to secure a vote on the rule-change at the party’s annual conference in September.
Mr Corbyn was suspended from the party last October after saying that antisemitism in the party was “dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media”.
His comments came after a damning report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission into antisemitism in the Labour Party.
The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy said the new measure “would require the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] and chief whip to report directly to the conference, including on MPs’ discipline, with the conference able to confirm or reject disciplinary decisions that are of concern to delegates”.
It is understood that while the change would apply to action taken against all MPs, it has been designed as a way to reinstate Mr Corbyn, who at the time attacked his suspension as a “political intervention.”
His party membership was reinstated after 19 days but has not had the party whip restored, and therefore sits as an independent MP.
It is a move that, if accepted, is likely to cause problems for Labour leader Kier Starmer’s leadership.
Last month, Labour’s ruling body voted to ban four far-left factions that were vocal supporters of Mr Corbyn’s leadership and to overhaul its complaints process.
A senior Labour insider told the Guardian they were confident that conference would reject the rule change.
Charlotte Nichols, the Labour MP for Warrington North, spoke out against the move.
She said: “The last thing we need is a rule change that could lead to the second guessing of the outcome of bullying and sexual harassment cases or the debate of individual disciplinary cases. This is not how our complaints system should run and should be rejected if it goes to conference floor.”
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