Jeremy Corbyn has 18 MPs to win over to reach the Labour leadership ballot paper. With nominations closing next Monday, it looks like he’s running out of time.
And selection looks even less likely now he has come out against “charity nominations” from other candidates, telling Total Politics he wants “people to choose of their own volition, I don’t want charity”.
But considering Corbyn entered the race to broaden the debate and provide an anti-austerity candidate, would he really undermine his goal by rejecting nominations “lent” by other candidates if he were within a whisker of reaching 35?
Andy Burnham has said he’s open to giving Corbyn a “helping hand”, as long as it wouldn’t provide his leftwing rival with an “artificial” level of support.
I hear Burnham would be happy to lend one or two supporters to squeak Corbyn over the line, but wouldn’t want to hand over a whole batch. Jitters remain in the Burnham camp about “shy Cooper” supporters who are yet to come out of the woodwork, which mean they don’t want to give away more nominations than necessary. (Burnham and Yvette Cooper currently have the greatest parliamentary backing, with 60 and 43 nominations, respectively).
So would Corbyn accept Burnham’s charity if it meant he tossed one or two coppers into his nomination cap? Surely his supporters would appreciate him accepting some good old-fashioned redistribution of wealth.
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