Hugh Pemberton

The rival factions at war over Labour’s leadership contest

Which factions have the most influence in the Labour leadership and deputy leadership contest? The biggest split in the party is between the pressure group Progress and those with links to trade unions. Their respective outlooks are often perceived as being mutually exclusive, and the way the leadership contest is shaping up seems to suggest that this is true.

Here is how the party breaks down between those two political poles, both in the 2010 contest and the one taking place currently.

Around 80 of the 232 MPs in the Parliamentary Labour Party have taken part in Progress events over the last five years according to its website. Such MPs come from across Labour’s political spectrum, including many of the candidates for leadership and deputy leadership – though neither Jeremy Corbyn nor Tom Watson have participated.

But when you look at the core of MPs most involved with Progress, you can start to see a leadership faction emerging. There are 28 MPs who either have participated in more than five Progress events or hold office in the organisation. Of these eight did not take part in the 2010 leadership contest; 16 of the 20 who did backed David Miliband. In the current leadership contest over 60 per cent of this group nominated Liz Kendall for leader, while 11 MPs backed Stella Creasy and seven endorsed Caroline Flint. Only three of those who backed Kendall did not go on to nominate one of those two for deputy. So there is a clear ‘Progress faction’ within the PLP and its influence was evident in the leadership nominations made by MPs.

The same can be said for those MPs with close links to Labour’s affiliated trade unions, which represents about a quarter of the PLP. There are those who have spoken on union platforms at conference (some of whom will have been speaking in their role as a shadow minister), those who have blogged as members of the PLP’s trade union group.

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