Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy today met with striking workers on a picket line - days after a shadow minister was sacked for unauthorised comments at a similar demonstration.
Ms Nandy, shadow leveling up secretary, spoke to members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) who walked out of their jobs at BT and Openreach in her Wigan constituency.
Labour leader Keir Starmer - who has previously told his top team not to join picket lines - was aware of the meeting, it is understood.
In a piece in the Sunday Mirror yesterday, Mr Starmer said his focus was on "turning from a party of protest into a party that can win power", but said he supported workers' rights to strike.
Last week Labour MP Sam Tarry was removed from his role of shadow transport minister after giving media interviews in which leadership ruled he had made up policy "on the hoof".
The move sparked a huge backlash from unions and the left of the party and unions, and on Friday Mr Tarry said "people need to have a really hard think about what the Labour Party is for".
Today Ms Nandy was pictured speaking to union leaders and members in her constituency during an ongoing dispute between staff and the telecommunications firm.
An ally of Ms Nandy said: "She went down to show her support for constituents campaigning for better pay and conditions at a really tough time, as you'd expect.
"As Keir said in the Mirror piece yesterday, we support their right to do that, and what they need now is a Labour government so they don't feel like they're on their own when times are tough."
Mr Tarry, MP for Ilford South, tweeted: "Great to see @lisanandy on the picket line. Senior Labour politicians need to demonstrate loud and clear that our Party is on the side of ordinary working people who are fighting back against this anti-worker Government."
His sacking was met with a wave of fury, with Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, saying she was "aghast" at Mr Starmer's approach to striking workers.
Mr Starmer wrote: "I completely understand why people are going on strike to secure better pay and better conditions. I support their right to do so.
"When I was a lawyer, I represented striking miners for free. Not just sentiment and a photo opp. I backed up my words with action.
"I am now leading a Labour Party that wants to change lives and give Britain the fresh start it needs."
Speaking during a visit to Birmingham on Thursday, the Labour leader said: "Sam Tarry was sacked because he booked himself onto media programmes without permission, and then made up policy on the hoof, and that can't be tolerated in any organisation because we've got collective responsibility.
"So that was relatively straightforward."
It is understood the policy Mr Tarry was considered to have fabricated was when he told Sky News every worker should get a pay rise in line with inflation.
Last week Labour insisted he was not booted out for joining a picket line.
A party spokesperson said:“This isn’t about appearing on a picket line. Members of the frontbench sign up to collective responsibility. That includes media appearances being approved and speaking to agreed frontbench positions.
“As a government in waiting, any breach of collective responsibility is taken extremely seriously and for these reasons Sam Tarry has been removed from the frontbench.”
