Chuka Umunna tells Corbyn to ‘call off the dogs’ amid Labour inquisition

The Streatham MP says party moderates face a ‘clear and present danger’ of being expelled

Chuka Umunna has called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to “call off the dogs” as the party’s internal war threatens to rip it apart.

The Streatham MP’s remarks come after MPs Gavin Shuker and Joan Ryan, who is overtly pro-Israel, lost no-confidence votes among local party members.

Shuker, who was elected in 2010, said: “I’ve not changed, but the Labour Party has.”

Umunna is expected to demand Corbyn end the excommunication of centre-left MPs at speech today to Progress – a moderate grouping within the Labour party.

“More motions such as this are expected by colleagues,” he will say. “My message to our leadership: it is within your power to stop this so call off the dogs and get on with what my constituency, one of the most diverse communities in the nation, demands we do – without equivocation, fight this Tory Brexit. That is where all our efforts should be.”

Referring to “this disastrous Brexit” as a “complete betrayal” of the Labour party’s values, he will continue: “It is simply not good enough to adopt a position which refuses to make the case for a people’s vote on the deal and at the same time leave it on the table as an option in the event of impasse in the House of Commons.

“That is simply constructive ambiguity continued, which needs to be junked.

“Let’s dump the prevarication, stop using internal factional reasons as an excuse to avoid it, and back a people’s vote wholeheartedly now.”