By Nicholas Watt

BBC Newsnight political editor

Supporters of Sir Keir Starmer are "drunk with power" and conducting a purge of the Labour left, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

In a BBC Newsnight interview, the veteran left-winger warned that a "right-wing faction" was weakening the party.

He was speaking after figures on the left complained that they are being blocked from positions in the party.

He has raised his concerns with the Labour leader in writing, warning: "If you stumble, these are the people that will come for you."

The former shadow chancellor said: "What [Keir Starmer's] allowed to happen is a right-wing faction [has] become drunk with power and use devices within the party almost on a search and destroy of the left.

"They seem to be more interested in destroying the presence of the left in the party than getting a Labour government."

His intervention comes after aspiring MPs said they are being excluded from an approved list of parliamentary candidates drawn up by the party's National Executive Committee, Labour's governing body.