by Larry Neild
LONDON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party will be allowed to defend a challenge to his leadership without needing nominations from MPs, the party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) decided on Tuesday night.
The decision, taken in a secret ballot in London, will be seen as a bitter blow to his own estranged MPs who had hoped the NEC would rule he required endorsement from 51 Labour MPs, like his challenger Angela Eagle.
It will now be up to the party's 500,000 members to decide whether Corbyn should continue as leader, even though 172 of his own MPs backed a vote of no confidence in him.
That vote led to virtually all of his front bench team resigning from his shadow cabinet, leaving Corbyn with insufficient MPs to fill his front bench jobs.
Last year, Corbyn swept to power after joining the leadership race at the minute following the resignation of former leader Ed Miliband.
A groundswell of support led to rank outsider Corbyn winning a landslide victory, gaining 250,000 votes, compared to the 80,000 won by his closest rival.
If Corbyn wins this new vote, it threatens to throw the Labour Party into its deepest ever crisis, perhaps even threatening the party, according to some political commentators.
Corbyn said later he was "delighted" with the result of the meeting, while his challenger Eagle said she welcomed the contest and was "determined to win".
The NEC vote went 18-14 in the Labour leader's favor following hours of talks.
A Labour Party spokesman said: "The NEC has agreed that as the incumbent leader Jeremy Corbyn will go forward onto the ballot without requiring nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party and the European Parliamentary Labour Party. All other leadership candidates will require nominations from 20 percent Labour MPs and MEPs."
Meanwhile, removal men started the task of moving David Cameron's belongings out of 10 Downing Street Tuesday to prepare for the arrival of its new occupant, Theresa May, on Wednesday.
On Wednesday Cameron will face Corbyn one last time at Prime Minister's Questions time in the Commons.
He will then head to Buckingham Palace to hand his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II, followed later by Home Secretary Theresa May who will have an audience with the Queen to be given her seal of approval as the new prime minister.
Cameron had expected to call Downing Street his home until September when the result of a leadership race between May and Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom was due to be announced. But Leadsom's shock withdrawal from the race on Monday meant May was cascaded into the job of the leader of the Conservative Party in a matter of hours, rather than the expected months.
May will move into Downing Street Wednesday night, with her first task appointing her new front bench team of politicians.
Although in the recent referendum on EU membership, May supported remain, she says she is committed to Britain leaving the EU following the Brexit success in the referendum.
