Tom Levitt has dismissed calls for a ballot within the Parliamentary Labour Party on the future of Labour’s leadership as irrelevant to the needs of the Party and the country.

“At a time when Britain is setting examples to the world on managing the economy and tackling climate change, four months before an election, it is highly damaging to rock the boat like this.

“The email – which comes from two people I call friends – talks of ‘deep division’ within the PLP but this is not the case. There is deep frustration, as any governing party fighting a recession not of our making, ten points behind in the polls, would suffer. But with no-one saying ‘Look at me, I could do a better job’ then what is the point of a vote?

“Having been criticized two years ago for holding a poll with only one leadership contender it is bizarre to suggest that we now hold one with no candidates at all.”

Former cabinet members Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt had called for a referendum within the Parliamentary Labour Party on the future of the party’s leadership, but without specifying what the question would be. They said every MP should back the leadership which emerged at the end of the process, whether the current leadership or a new one.

“There is no appetite for a leadership election within the Party as a whole and it is irresponsible for a handful of MPs to suggest otherwise,” said the High Peak MP. “They call on every MP to back the future leaders of our Party: but we should be doing that now, anyway. We have an election to win and I believe we can do that.”