McGinn steps down as a Labour whip over sacking

Labour MP Conor McGinn, whose father Pat was a Sinn Fein councillor, has resigned as whip following the sacking of chief whip Rosie Winterton in Jeremy Corbyn's controversial frontbench shake-up.

By The Newsroom

Published 9th Oct 2016, 17:14 BST

Updated 25th Oct 2016, 18:53 BST

Mr McGinn stepped down as did fellow whip Holly Lynch over the removal of Ms Winterton, which provoked an angry backlash.

Chair of the parliamentary party John Cryer wrote to MPs to protest that he and the chief whip had been kept in the dark about the reshuffle despite being engaged in talks with the leadership on putting some of the posts on the shadow cabinet up for election.

A Labour spokesman said: “We thank Conor McGinn and Holly Lynch for their services. Their positions will be filled in due course.”

A Labour source said: “No-one will lose any sleep over Conor McGinn resigning after the disloyalty he showed in organising resignations during the attempted coup.”

Sources close to Mr Corbyn insist that Mr McGinn was set to be sacked when junior posts in the reshuffle were announced.