Ed Miliband has launched an attack on the boss of the Unite union as Labour's row with its biggest donor threatens to engulf the party.
Mr Miliband confirmed that he is handing Labour's investigation into alleged irregularities over the selection of an election candidate in Falkirk to the police - but insisted the episode was an "exceptional case".
It is claimed Unite crammed the Scottish constituency with 100 or more members whose subscriptions were paid by the union, some of them without their knowledge.
Facing potentially the biggest crisis of his Labour leadership, Ed Miliband told Len McCluskey to face up to "malpractice" and insisted the union should not be defending "machine politics".
In an interview with Sky News he said: "I think that Len McCluskey hasn't behaved well in this process, I think he should have faced up to the serious concerns that there were in Falkirk.
"Instead of the last 48 hours of him somehow defending the position and saying we were in the wrong, he should have recognised that for the Labour Party under my leadership to be taking these actions must have meant there was something seriously wrong... and frankly, he needs to recognise that."
Mr McCluskey has stood his ground in the war of words, saying: "It seems to me that the Labour leadership is now being caught up in anti-union Tory hysteria.
"I would urge the Labour leadership to stop responding to the Tory agenda.
Tom Watson's resignation from the shadow cabinet deepened the row "We believe [Labour] have handled it absolutely amateurishly and they have played into the Prime Minister's and the Coalition's hands.
"They must be rubbing their hands at this."
Mr McCluskey accused the Labour leadership of deliberately picking a fight in an echo of Tony Blair's "Clause IV moment" when he got rid of Labour's historic commitment to collective ownership.
"It's depressing that Labour leaders seem to want to have a Clause IV moment, they've got to have a situation where they front up union leaders," he said.
"Well Ed [Miliband] doesn't need to front up me, I'm his friend, I support him."
He is calling for an independent inquiry into the allegations.
"We have no confidence in the so-called investigation that has been carried out by Labour Party HQ," he said.
"If an independent report indicates that Unite have done something wrong then I'll be the first to put my hand up and accept responsibility for it and do something about it.
Karie Murphy - Unite's favoured candidate for Falkirk - has been suspended "But at the moment we're caught up in a media storm caused by Labour's inability to deal with this situation.
"They've shot themselves in the foot."
The seething dispute has seen Tom Watson - who has close links with Unite - step down as Labour's deputy chairman and left the shadow cabinet.
Mr Watson said that he was quitting to safeguard "the unity of the party".
Mr Miliband also announced he was suspending two members of the Falkirk party - constituency chairman Stephen Deans and Karie Murphy, Mr Watson's office manager who was Unite's favoured candidate for the seat.
Conservative Paty chairman Grant Shapps has written to Mr Miliband demanding the publication of Labour's internal report on events in Falkirk.
Mr Shapps also asked Mr Miliband whether he would suspend candidates in 40 other seats named in a leaked Unite document as enjoying support from the union in selection contests.
Labour insists it has no evidence of membership irregularities in any constituencies outside Falkirk.
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