Shadow cabinet minister quits in ‘hard Left attempt to undermine Sir Keir Starmer’

Sir Keir Starmer's leadership of the Labour Party suffered a blow on Monday night after one of his top team resigned during the party conference in what appeared to be an attempt by the hard Left to undermine him.

Andy McDonald, Sir Keir's shadow secretary of state for employment rights and pensions, said his position had become "untenable" after the Labour leader asked him to oppose an increase of the minimum wage to £15.

Mr McDonald was one of the few remaining Corbynite members of the shadow cabinet and is said to have become angry with the leadership over proposed rule changes that would have made it more difficult for the party to elect a Left-wing leader.

In a resignation letter on Monday, he said Sir Keir's office had asked him to attend a meeting with two unions, Aslef and Unite, to oppose their call for the minimum wage to be increased. "This is something I could not do," he wrote.

Mr McDonald said that while he had been promised Sir Keir would "maintain our commitment to socialist policies", he had concluded that "the movement is more divided than ever and the pledges that you made to the membership are not being honoured".

His resignation came after criticism of the leadership from Andy Burnham and Dan Jarvis, two Northern Labour mayors.

A source close to Mr McDonald said the request to oppose the minimum wage increase had been the "final straw", while hard-Left allies of Jeremy Corbyn rallied around him.

News of his decision was circulated by allies of John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, shortly after 5pm. Within minutes, broadcast journalists had been invited to conduct interviews with Mr McDonald, suggesting the resignation had been carefully planned.

Meanwhile, an article written by Mr Corbyn in which he accused the Labour leadership of wanting to "prop up, not challenge" the wealthy and powerful, was published online.

Just before 6pm, Jon Lansman, the co-founder of the pro-Corbyn campaign group Momentum, accused Sir Keir of "driving wedges within the party". Mr McDonald will be speaking at a conference event with Mr Corbyn on Tuesday.

Allies of Sir Keir said the move had been deliberately planned to sabotage the party conference after the leader won major votes to reform the party's rules.

A source said Mr McDonald had been "fine" when the minimum wage policy was announced at the weekend, and instead appeared to be "not happy" with rule changes put forward on Monday.

Sir Keir thanked Mr McDonald for his service in the shadow cabinet, adding: "My focus and that of the whole party is on winning the next general election so we can deliver for working people who need a Labour government."

Former Labour frontbencher Rebecca Long-Bailey told a rally organised by Tribune magazine that she was "speechless" over Mr McDonald's resignation. She said: "If it's true that we were saying that we shouldn't advocate for statutory sick pay at the rate of the living wage, then what is the point of the Labour Party?"

Mr McDonald was greeted with a standing ovation and chants at a fringe event on Monday night and said the day had been "torrid" and involved a "very difficult" decision.

"We tried our best to get that situation improved," he said. "All the people that have done their damndest to get this country through their pandemic, and now they face a triple whammy. It's an absolute abomination."