Birmingham MP 'Threatened' After Quitting Labour Post
27 June 2016, 12:37 | Updated: 27 June 2016, 12:43
Yardley's Jess Phillips was parliamentary aide to Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell - who has resigned
A Birmingham Labour MP says she's had threats after quitting her position as a parliamentary aide this morning.
Yardley's Jess Phillips says it is in protest to the way Jeremy Corybn has led the party.
In her letter to the Labour leader, Phillips urges him to do the "right thing" and let the party be the opposition it needs to be.
Below is a copy of her letter.
"The Labour Party is not about you, it's about us, most of all it's about them, the brilliant people in the UK, even the ones who don't agree with us. We need action, we really needed it last week, the week before.
"I'm really worried that you cannot see that you have made this all about you and not about them. Be the socialist you say you are, do the right thing and let the Labour Party be the opposition it needs to be now, when people need it most.''
In a note of sympathy towards the leader, Ms Phillips told Mr Corbyn that "nobody deserves some of the crap you have put up with'."
"Writing or saying anything against you risks my job, the livelihood of my family. The threats are already rolling in.
"Turns out when you stand up for what you believe, you are principled. When I do it, I am an opportunist, careerist, Blairite or even a Zionist plotter. Funny that, I am a socialist. I live my life as a socialist. I speak up regardless of the risk because I am considerably less important than the struggle."