Beleaguered Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, launched his official campaign here Saturday afternoon aimed at propelling the party to victory in the 2020 general election.

Despite the party being involved in a civil war, Corbyn, estranged from most of his MPs, sees himself as a Prime Minister in waiting and the next occupant of 10 Downing Street.

The 1,700-seat auditorium at a theater in the Lowry Center in Salford was packed to capacity with supporters of Corbyn, even though the event was only announced 48 hours previously.

Corbyn's team were staging simultaneous launch events Saturday in cities across the country, including Newcastle, Cambridge, Bristol, Nottingham, London and Cardiff.

In Manchester city center, Welsh MP Owen Smith was launching his leadership campaign Saturday night.

Smith, was Corbyn's shadow work and pensions secretary until he quit along with most of the leader's front bench team. He has the backing of most MPs, but Corbyn has won massive grass roots support around the country.

Both men are going head-to-head in a leadership battle to determine who will run Britain's main working class party.

The events in Manchester came on the day the leader of Britain's biggest trade union, Len McCluskey of Unite, made an astonishing claim that Britain's secret services could be behind a campaign of bullying, threats and intimidation aimed at opponents of Corbyn.

McCluskey's claims came in a full length interview with the Guardian newspaper, published Saturday.

The union veteran said he thought online abuse of Corbyn's critics has been "posted by security forces trying to discredit his supporters."

"Do people believe for one second that the security forces are not involved in dark practices? ... I have been around long enough... the type of stuff that we ultimately find out about, under the 30-year rule," said McCluskey, adding he thinks that in 30 years people will discover that MI5 (Britain's Secret Service) was behind the social media threats in 2016. Many government reports are kept secret and only revealed after 30 years under disclosure rules.

McCluskey added in the Guardian interview: "Anybody who thinks that that isn't happening doesn't live in the same world that I live in. Do you think that there's not all kinds of right-wingers who are not secretly able to disguise themselves and stir up trouble? I find it amazing if people think that isn't happening."

Corbyn told his supporters in Manchester: "We have lost the last two general elections. We cannot carry on as before. No one underestimates the scale of the task in front of us. We have a mountain to climb to win a general election and that's why we have to change how we do things."

Responding to claims of threats, insults and verbal attacks against Labour Party members Corbyn insisted there is no place in the party for intimidation.

A group of 40 women Labour MPs have written to Corbyn criticising his at his response to the abuse, claiming there have been threats of rape and death against female opponents.

Their letter claimed there been threats of rape and death, smashed cars and bricks through windows are disgusting and totally unacceptable in any situation," they wrote.

Ballot papers will be dispatched to Labour Party members on August 22, with the result announced a month later at the party's annual conference in Liverpool. Endit

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