A number of Jeremy Corbyn’s staff are fearing for their jobs after 37 members of his team were summoned to “informal meetings” this week as part of a major shake-up of the Labour leader’s operation.

One Corbyn ally told Sky News there was concern the scheduling of the review – on a week likely to be dominated by Brexit developments – suggested a faction loyal to shadow chancellor John McDonnell was attempting to launch a “political power grab under the radar”.

The restructuring of Mr Corbyn’s team began last week, with the Labour leader’s chief of staff Karie Murphy and political secretary Amy Jackson being moved from their roles in his office.

But further high-profile changes are expected to follow.

Internal emails seen by Sky News show that last Friday more than 30 members of staff in Mr Corbyn’s office – including some of his most senior communications and policy aides – received messages from a party human resources official asking them to attend “informal” interviews as part of a review into the “management structures” in the leader’s office.

The interviews are to be conducted over the course of the next week by a panel led by the former head of the civil service, Sir Bob Kerslake.

Sir Bob is a long-time friend of Mr McDonnell and has been advising Mr Corbyn on his preparations for government for the last two years.

The email from the human resources official said Sir Bob had been commissioned to carry out the review jointly by Corbyn and McDonnell.

It added that the interviews were optional and aimed at identifying what “short term improvements can be made ahead of the impending general election”.

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But WhatsApp messages between members of Mr Corbyn’s core team, also seen by Sky News, show they fear the review goes well beyond election preparation.

One member of the inner group claimed Sir Bob’s review may be broadened to allow him to take evidence from shadow cabinet ministers, such as Sir Keir Starmer and John Healey, on what changes they thought might be needed.

“We can’t have random members of the shadow cabinet involved in this,” one member of the group wrote.

“It is absolutely insane allowing politicians who are barely linked to our office or who have a massive political agenda, to influence restructuring,” they added.

In a series of email responses from staffers, directed at the human resources official who had requested they attend interviews this week, a number raised their concerns about the process, with many suggesting they were being blocked from receiving sufficient trade union representation.

One staffer wrote: “The events of this week and the complete lack of explanation have done damage to staff morale and trust”.

They claimed there had been “no offer of trade union representation despite this being raised at Thursday’s meeting.”

“For colleagues to have partake in these meetings without having that opportunity is not acceptable in my opinion”, they added.

Another asked why certain members of staff in Mr Corbyn’s office had been called for an interview when others hadn’t.

“I’m sure you and others can appreciate that in the context of recent movement of staff and malicious briefing about valued staff members, including my line managers in the media, that a sudden announcement of a review with a panel of external people has caused unease to members of staff,” they said.

The human resources official responded by saying staff were able to bring a trade union representative with them, but that it would not be “practical” to organise the interviews directly through the union.

Another staffer hit back, writing: “I am absolutely staggered that such a simple request is receiving such resistance”.

The last communication in the email exchange came from a senior aide who complained they had received “no notification of this meeting, the review or the appointment of a panel”.

They added they had “great sympathy with the concerns raised by my fellow LOTO [Leader of the Opposition’s Office] colleagues, especially in light of alleged negative briefings against people I have worked very closely with for three years and have a huge respect for… might I suggest you take on board what’s been said here and find a positive and constructive way to allay their concerns”.

A Labour spokesperson said: “We do not comment on staffing matters”.

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