Corbyn campaign unhappy over Diane Abbott text row

Yesterday, Labour members and registered supporters in London received a text from “Jeremy”, endorsing Diane Abbott in the race to become the candidate for London Mayor. For smartphone users, the name at the top appeared as “J Corbyn”:

However, LabourList now understands that not only was the text not agreed with the Jeremy Corbyn campaign, but that they had refused the request to have his name on the message. Corbyn and Abbott are close, both politically and personally, with a joint rally earlier this week attended by hundreds of people – but the leadership contender had decided not to formally support a candidate in the mayoral race, and will appear at events with other candidates in that race in the coming weeks. Figures in the Corbyn camp are unhappy that the text was sent out regardless.

Diane Abbott is supporting Corbyn’s bid to become leader though, and was among the first MPs to nominate him, something which fellow mayoral candidates Sadiq Khan, David Lammy and Gareth Thomas all later did too.