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Abbott and McDonnell slap down Sunday Times claims of Corbyn clash

JEREMY CORBYN’S team rallied around the Labour leader this weekend to deny another round of smears.

Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday Times alleged there was a “civil war” between Mr Corbyn’s advisers and some of his shadow cabinet, who supposedly want them sacked.

Senior aides Seumas Milne and Karie Murphy are said to be advising the leader to maintain the party’s position on respecting the result of the EU referendum, against reported advice from leading shadow cabinet figures Diane Abbott and John McDonnell.

However Ms Abbott rubbished the Sunday Times story saying: “I am completely committed to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of our party and the election of a radical Labour government with Jeremy as prime minister. 

“I do not believe that removing any member of staff working for Jeremy and the Labour Party would help that cause.”

Mr McDonnell also dismissed the report of a rift with the leader’s aides, saying the story was written by journalists “drinking some of the most nauseating wine ever produced from a grape.”

He told the BBC: “I have not told anyone to be sacked or anything like that, this is all myth.

“But let's make it clear, Jeremy and I talk about policies on a daily basis.

“Yes, we will disagree on things but we will then come to an agreement.”

Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner was also sceptical of the Sunday Times story, telling Sky News: “The idea that they put forward that there's a civil war in the Labour Party — let's look at the real divide in this country.

“The real divide in this country is not within the Labour Party, the real divide in this country is between what the Conservatives are trying to do with our country and the rest.”

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