Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has denied allegations some former MPs were offered peerages to stand down to let allies of the Labour leadership take their seats.
A string of candidates supportive of leader Keir Starmer have been handed candidacies in Labour-held seats in the past week, in a centralised selection process attributed to the surprise general election but controversially leaving local parties with no say.
Now one former MP is reported to have told colleagues they were offered a seat in the Lords to pave the way for another candidate to take their seat.
Another source alleged to The Sunday Times that Diane Abbott was among the MPs offered a peerage if she were to stand down. It comes as Keir Starmer said the until-recently-suspended politician could stand in Hackney North.
It was widely seen as a significant rowback after party figures had repeatedly suggested it was a matter for the national executive committee, and disputed claims from some party sources she would be barred. Abbott had then vowed publicly to stay on as long as possible.
But Yvette Cooper told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “No party can do that. It’s not the way the system works. There’s a whole process with the indpeendiet committe that will vet nominations.”
She added: “No party can make those sort of commitments…the thing we do know -we’ve seen a series of quite shocking Conservative resignation honours lists from Boris Johnson to Liz Truss.”
Labour would change how this process works, she added.
Labur declined to provide further comment.
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