A senior shadow minister is making an official complaint against her party, accusing the Labour leader’s office of “aggressive” and “intimidating” behaviour.
Shadow work and pensions secretary, Debbie Abrahams, was asked on Friday to step aside from her role over “work based complaints”.
But she refused until she knew more about the nature of the allegations.
On Sunday evening, the Labour Party released a statement, saying: “Debbie Abrahams has stood aside from her role while the Labour Party investigates an employment issue.”
Sky News understands the allegation relates to bullying.
But Ms Abrahams hit back with her own complaints. She told Sky News: “I refute the allegations that have been made against me in the strongest possible terms.
“I will fight this spurious claim and do not rule out taking legal action.”
She added: “I have had no details about the complaint, who it is from, the process or timescales. I have not agreed to stand aside.
“My treatment by certain individuals in the Leader’s Office over the last 10 months has been aggressive, intimidating and wholly unprofessional.
“My treatment in the last week has shown a bullying culture of the worst kind. As such I am making a formal complaint to both the Labour Party and Parliamentary Authorities.”
Some Labour MPs have privately expressed their support for Ms Abrahams, with one saying: “They’ve been looking to get rid of her for ages but they couldn’t find any ammo. Then this mysterious complaint turned up.”
Margaret Greenwood will act as shadow secretary of state for work and pensions during the internal investigation, which will be dealt with through the employee internal grievance process.
Ms Abrahams, who first entered Parliament in 2010, was made shadow minister for the disabled by Jeremy Corbyn in 2015.
She was promoted to the shadow cabinet after last year’s general election.
