Former Scottish Labour leader Lord McConnell has described the party’s UK leadership contest process as “a shambles”.
The Labour peer hit out at the decision to open up the party to new members “over the whole summer” while the campaign is taking place.
And he warned the party must not let the importance of electing a new leader become overshadowed by issues surrounding the voting process, as he called for all those involved in the campaign to make a clear statement that they will accept the result.
The four-way contest to lead the UK party has been marred by claims of “entryism” by political opponents paying £3 to become registered Labour supporters under new party rules – giving them a vote in the poll.
More than 120,000 people have signed up, along with 189,000-plus members of unions and other affiliates, swelling the electorate to more than 600,000. There have been claims too little is being done by the party to root out infiltrators.
Speaking on the BBC’s Newsnight programme, Lord McConnell, a former First Minister of Scotland, said: “This is a ridiculous situation. I cannot believe that when the initial decision was made in May to open up the membership in this way over the summer that somebody at a high level in the party or somebody in one of the, at that time, three main campaigns didn’t express some concerns.
“It seems I think in many ways to encapsulate what’s wrong with the running of the Labour Party over recent years and why we’re in this mess in the first place.”
He went on: “I think at the end of the day we need to be very careful that we don’t allow this issue to overshadow the importance of electing a new leader who has a vision and the right values to take the party and the country forward over the years to come.”
The Labour peer said the party membership should have only been opened up for a few weeks following the general election.
He told the programme: “Although this is a shambles and this decision to open up the membership over the whole summer should never have been taken, there should have been an initial decision to open up the membership for a month after the general election, allowing people who are enthused either by the election or angered by the result of the election and wanted to get involved in politics a chance to join.
“But to keep this going over the whole summer has been a ridiculous situation. But I would be amazed, even in these bad times for the Labour Party, if this whole arrangement has not been legally checked and I cannot imagine an appeal from either side will be likely to lead to a re-running of the election campaign.”
Andy Burnham, Jeremy Corbyn, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall are the candidates standing to become leader.
In a plea to the candidates and their campaigns, Lord McConnell said: “This election campaign has now been going for several weeks. I believe that everybody involved should state very clearly that they will accept the result and I think we should then get on with the task of opposing the government and trying to get back to running the country again.”