The MPs could be the only Labour members allowed to choose the next party leader under plans by Keir Starmer’s allies, which they call a “Liz Truss block”.
According to The Times, senior Labour members are pushing for a controversial rule change at next month’s party conference that would fundamentally alter the party’s process for choosing its new leader.
The rule change is seen as a way to avoid a repeat of the Tory leadership contest in 2022. At that time, Truss was appointed leader by the party despite not having the support of a majority of MPs.
This led to a run-off vote of members between Truss and Rishi Sunak that lasted six weeks, while the entire contest lasted nearly two months amid the deepening energy price crisis.
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Labour Party leaders say a similar scenario must be avoided at all costs and that MPs should have a say in who should succeed Starmer as party leader.
“There is a plan to bring a constitutional reform to conference that would exclude members from electing a party leader when we are in government and leave only MPs to decide,” a senior Labour source told the Times.
This is seen as the last reform that needs to be implemented to avert any threat from the left,” they added.
A second source told the newspaper: “It’s known as the ‘Liz Truss Lock’. The Tories have made the country’s misery worse by allowing their members to put someone in 10 Downing Street that the parliamentary party did not want to work with. So we need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
It is also believed that the time is right for Starmer to use his first party conference as prime minister to strengthen centrist control within the party.
Starmer’s allies are also reportedly convinced that delegates support the proposed rule change and would likely pass it if put to a vote.
Other senior figures within the party were aware of the proposed change but are unsure whether enough work has been done to counteract the union backlash against the decision.
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One MP said he would “very much welcome it if it happened” but doubted it would be adopted.
They added: “Would it be accepted? I’m not sure the groundwork has been done.”
MPs from the left wing of the party described the move to exclude members from a future election of the party leader as “purely factional and undemocratic”. One of them said: “We will ensure that such attempts fail.”
