Corbyn’s hopes take a hit as party shuts out thousands of supporters with rule change

JEREMY Corbyn suffered a major blow in his bid to cling on as Labour leader as the party changed voting rules to stop leftie infiltrators propping him up.

A loophole allowing people to vote in this summer’s leadership contest for as little as £2 was slammed shut in a surprise move.

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It means anybody who was not a Labour member before January will now have to pay £25 if they want a say.
That includes the army of 88,000 “Corbynistas” who helped Mr Corbyn win last year by signing up as £3 “registered supporters”.

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The party’s ruling National Executive Committee had announced on Tuesday that they would need to pay more – sparking a stampede to exploit other avenues such as cut-price union membership which entitle them to vote.

But yesterday the party applied the January cut-off date to those routes too.

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Furious Corbyn allies blasted the move as they prepare to fight off challenges from Angela Eagle and Owen Smith.

Neil Findlay, the left-wing Scottish Parliament member who ran Mr Corbyn’s first leadership campaign in Scotland, said it was “wrong in principle” for some members to be barred from voting.

Meanwhile Labour’s civil war was heading for the courts after a major donor launched a legal challenge against Mr Corbyn’s right to stand for leader.

Michael Foster, who has given the party £400,000, said he was worried rules had been bent so Mr Corbyn could defend his position without support from MPs.

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The National Executive Committee ruled on Tuesday he did not need 51 backers, but Mr Foster said all its members “had a different political agenda”.

Mr Foster said: “You cannot in Britain, a democracy that stands or falls by the application of law, bend the rules to suit a particular circumstance or a particular position.”

But his move was branded “very unhelpful” by deputy leader Tom Watson.

-An earlier version of this story used a picture of Michael Foster, the former MP for Worcester. We apologise to both for the error.