McDonnell says Starmer must restore whip to Corbyn ahead of conference 

John McDonnell has said Keir Starmer should welcome back Jeremy Corbyn at this week’s Labour party conference.

In an interview with The Independent on Sunday,  the former shadow chancellor and key Corbyn ally said the current Labour leader could break through grassroots “frustration” by restoring the whip to Jeremy Corbyn.

The former leader remains suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party after suggesting that his opponents had “dramatically overstated” the scale of anti-semitism in the party under his leadership.

McDonnell said that restoring the whip to Corbyn was “absolutely key” to the conference.

He explained: “He [Starrmer] doesn’t have to endorse everything Jeremy believes in or says or has said”.

“He just has to demonstrate that actually Jeremy is a valuable member of our party like everybody else, and use his talents. Jeremy could mobilise for Keir Starmer.”

Last week McDonnell suggested that the 100,000-plus decrease in Labour membership was a result of “disillusionment” with Starmer’s leadership.