Corbyn's team names Labour MPs it claims have abused leader and his allies

Jeremy Corbyn's team has issued a roll call of Labour MPs it claims have abused the leader and his allies as it attacked opponent Owen Smith for running a negative campaign.

As the rivals prepared to square up for another televised hustings, the former shadow work and pensions secretary was accused of being the "real disunity candidate".

Mr Smith has failed to tackle abuse meted out by his own supporters, and party members are being made to feel "profoundly unwelcome", the leader's team said.

They highlighted the behaviour of a number of Labour MPs, including Jess Phillips for telling Mr Corbyn's ally Diane Abbott to "f*** off", John Woodcock for dismissing the party leader as a "f****** disaster" and Tristram Hunt for describing Labour as "in the s***".

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson was name-checked for calling the grassroots Corbyn campaign Momentum a "rabble".

Mr Smith was attacked for appearing to describe the leader as a "lunatic" - something he denies.

Ian Austin, Neil Coyle, Ben Bradshaw, Frank Field, Anna Turley, Jamie Reed, Karl Turner, Stephen Kinnock and Tom Blenkinsop were all also identified by the campaign over claims about their behaviour.

It comes after Mr Smith's campaign last week released a dossier setting out the abuse in the party it claimed Mr Corbyn had tolerated and claimed he was "more interested in deepening the divides within the party than winning elections".

But the leader's team said it was Mr Smith's campaign that seems to have been designed to "deepen divisions and heighten acrimony" in Labour.

Mr Corbyn and the former frontbencher will battle it out in the latest televised hustings of the campaign on Sky News later.

A spokesman said: "Owen Smith's campaign has become increasingly negative, focusing on attacking Jeremy Corbyn rather than presenting a positive vision for the party and country.

"For the sake of party unity, Owen must explicitly condemn those who have threatened to split the party and tear it apart, as well as condemn the abuse instigated by his high-profile supporters. He must also make concrete commitments to doing his bit to foster party unity.

"Jeremy Corbyn has consistently spoken about his desire to unite Labour in order to take on the Tories, and committed to continuing to appoint broad-based shadow cabinets should he be re-elected as leader."

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