Rearranging the deckchairs pt 2 : New Labour

The BBC reports :

An MP has been sacked as Labour's vice chair after publicly joining calls for a leadership election.

Joan Ryan and four other Labour MPs - Fiona Mactaggart, Siobhain McDonagh, George Howarth and Janet Anderson - have asked for nomination forms.

And fellow MPs Graham Stringer, Gordon Prentice and John McDonnell have called for a leadership contest.

Entering the latest row on Saturday evening Mr McDonnell - who has long been urging a leadership election - described current Labour infighting as "like watching the crew having a punch up on the deck of the Titanic".

The MP for Hayes and Harlington said: "Most Labour Party members are looking on aghast as the Blairites and Brownites fight an irrelevant turf war.

"Without a single policy difference between them they are willing to destroy a Labour government. I challenge both of them to publish a policy programme to put before our members for support and let's test the views of our supporters on the way forward for Labour."