MPS could be the only Labour members who would be allowed to elect the next party leader under plans by Keir Starmer’s allies which they are calling the “Liz Truss lock”.
Senior members in Labour are reportedly pushing for a controversial rule change at next month’s party conference which would overhaul how the party elects its new leader, according to The Times.
The rule change is seen as one way to avoid a repeat of the Tory leadership contest in 2022, when Truss was made leader by the party despite not having a majority backing of MPs.
This led to a run-off ballot for members between Truss and Rishi Sunak which lasted six weeks while the whole contest took almost two months amid the growing energy price crisis.
Senior Labour figures believe a similar scenario should be avoided at all costs and only want MPs to have a say over who should succeed Starmer as leader.
“There’s a plan to bring a constitutional reform to conference that would cut out the membership for electing a leader when we’re in government, and only allow the MPs to decide,” a senior Labour source told The Times.
This is seen as the last reform that needs doing to syphon off any threat from the left,” they added.
A second source told the newspaper: “It’s known as the ‘Liz Truss lock’. The Tories compounded the country’s misery by letting their members put someone in No 10 the parliamentary party wouldn’t work with. So we need to make sure that can’t happen again.”
It is also believed that the timing is right for Starmer to use his first party conference as prime minister to tighten the grip of the centrists within the party.
It is also reported that Starmer’s allies are confident that delegates would be in favour of the proposed rule change and are likely to pass it if it comes to a vote.
Other senior figures within the party were aware of the proposed change but are unsure if there has been enough work put into rebuttal the backlash from unions over the decision.
One MP said they would “dearly love it if it happens” but doubted it would pass.
They added: “Would it pass? I’m not sure groundwork has been done.”
MPs on the left of the party said the move to cut out members from a future leadership election would be “purely factional and anti-democratic” as one said: “We will ensure any such attempts fail.”
