HUDDERSFIELD’S MP could take on a major new role in the Labour Party.
Barry Sheerman told the Examiner yesterday that he was considering standing for election as chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP).
The veteran MP, who has been a leading critic of the Prime Minster, is thinking of standing against Tony Lloyd for leadership of the backbenchers’ group later this month.
But Mr Sheerman denied this was part of a move to topple Gordon Brown.
He said: “If colleagues ask me to stand, I will consider it. A lot of people believe that the current chair has not been robust enough in standing up for backbenchers and has rather too easily taken the view of the Government.
“I was very unhappy with the way the present chair of the PLP didn’t stand up for backbenchers.”
Mr Sheerman has been a prominent critic of the Prime Minister this year. In June he called for a secret ballot of Labour MPs on Mr Brown’s leadership, but he denied he was plotting against Mr Brown.
