John McDonnell dispels rumours of split with Jeremy Corbyn

'Media and right wing dirty tricks and lies trying to divide me and Jeremy'

Shadow Chancellor Mr McDonnell and Labour leader Mr Corbyn at Labour's annual conference (Getty)

John McDonnell has been forced to try and dispel rumours of a rift with Jeremy Corbyn, amid reports he was planning an “organised takeover” in the event of a coup by dissenting Labour MPs.

It comes after several turbulent days for the Labour leader, who has been forced to suspend three councillors, an MP and the former Labour Mayor as the row over anti-Semitism within the party’s ranks intensified.

An article printed in the Daily Telegraph on Monday said the Labour leader’s handling of the furore had led to claims Mr McDonnell is “waiting for an ‘organised takeover’ as leader if MPs stage a coup”.

An editorial in the newspaper added: “So shambolic, so offensive has Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party become that the shadow Chancellor John McDonnell is thought to be planning a putsch to unseat him”.

Mr McDonnell, who appeared to take aim at the newspaper, said: “Media and right-wing dirty tricks and lies trying to divide me and Jeremy. They should know it only unites us even more and makes us stronger.”

A source close to the shadow Chancellor, speaking to The Independent, dismissed the “ludicrous nonsense” printed about the pair in the press, adding that Mr McDonnell and Mr Corbyn were “best of friends”. “It is absurd to suggest otherwise,” the source added.

On Monday the Labour Party acted swiftly to suspend Ilyas Aziz, a Nottingham City councillor, and Salim Mulla, a councillor in Blackburn, over controversial social media posts highlighted on the Guido Fawkes website.

A third councillor, Shah Hussain, who represents Burnley's Daneshouse with Stoneyholme ward, made comments attacking Israel's foreign policy made on Twitter in 2014.

When approached by the Press Association, Mr Hussain said he would "most definitely" fight the suspension.

On his Facebook page Mr Aziz appeared to liken the actions of Israel against the Palestinians to those of the Nazis against the Jewish population. In a post, from 2014, Mr Mulla also shared a post allegedly showing footage of a Palestinian boy being arrested with a comment from the councillor saying: "Apartheid at its best. Zionist Jews are a disgrace to humanity."

Last week the Labour leader was forced to suspend his long-time ally Ken Livingstone, the former London Mayor, and Labour MP Naz Shah. When approached by The Independent, Mr Livingstone said he would be making no further comments before the London Mayoral election later this week.

The two high-profile suspensions led Mr Corbyn to announce that the party had set up an independent inquiry – led by the former Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti – tasked with tackling antisemitism in Labour. A code of conduct will also "make explicitly clear for the first time that Labour will not tolerate any form of racism, including anti-Semitism, in the party" and provide guidance on acceptable language.

Meanwhile, the general secretary of Unite – Labour’s biggest union donor – Len McCluskey took aim at dissenting MPs on Monday. In an interview with The Guardian the union chief said that some rebellious politicians had been “nothing short of treacherous” and set “stupid traps” for Mr Corbyn by claiming the party should win a certain number of seats at the elections later this week.

“We have had Michael Dugher saying Jeremy has 99 days to prove himself and suddenly 5 May becomes a litmus test on Corbyn’s ability to lead the party,” he said.

“We have had Liz Kendall saying we should win 400 council seats. This is the woman who got 4.5 per cent of the vote in the leadership election. We won’t be taking lectures off people like that who are interested in setting false traps.”

A poll carried out as the controversy unfolded gave the Conservatives an eight-point lead, and experts tip Labour to lose up to 150 council seats in England and face a hard night in elections to the Scottish and Welsh governments.

However, Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate for London Mayor, is widely expected to win the contest in the capital. The elections across the UK will be the first nationwide test of Mr Corbyn’s leadership since winning a significant mandate from Labour Party members in September 2015.