Corbyn not only saw more than 30 of his MPs resign by Monday, in the wake of the referendum defeat, but his party also moved to hold a no-confidence vote on his leadership.
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The mayhem in Britain’s Labour ranks is continuing, with one former member of Jeremy Corbyn’s top team urging him to quit now rather than “drag this out” as frontbenchers continued to quit.
During last night’s meeting, former home secretary Alan Johnson accused Mr Corbyn and his aides of sabotaging Labour’s campaign against Brexit in the referendum.
The party is seriously split right now, and faced with the possibility that a Scottish secession would cost them traditional allies in the Scottish National Party (SNP), relegating them to a secondary party status in the future.
“Let me make it absolutely clear: Jeremy Corbyn is not resigning”, Mr. McDonnell said.
But he said that Mr Corbyn was “not going to concede to a back-room deal”. But his relationship with Labour’s elected lawmakers has always been fragile, with many questioning whether the party could win an election on such a ticket.
“I think it is really sad that colleagues have chosen to stage this three-ring circus because they don’t want to have a leadership election because they are not certain of winning a leadership election”.
Critics say Mr Corbyn – who for decades had expressed eurosceptic views – could have done more to sway voters.
“A beleaguered Jeremy Corbyn should take a long hard look in the mirror, then do what is in the best interests of his party, working people and the country because, to be frank, it is increasingly hard to imagine him as a Labour prime minister on the steps of Downing Street”, it adds.
“Straight after the election a year ago, we came to this very same spot to speak up for the rights of refugees to live in our society”, Mr. Corbyn told cheering supporters, as he denounced “racism, intolerance, the violence associated with it”.
MPs will vote on the no-confidence motion in a secret ballot that, while not binding, will heap further pressure on the Islington North MP.
If there’s another leadership election – even though the registered supporters who paid £3 would need to sign up again – he thinks he would beat any challenger hands down.
But the defiant Mr Corbyn – blamed by some supporters for a lacklustre European Union referendum campaign – refused to give in to the “corridor coup”.
“This is now about saving the Labour Party”.
One at the meeting pleaded with the leader to “call off the dogs”, claiming leftwing Corbyn-backing protestors had intimidated his constituency staff by protesting outside his office after he quit his frontbench job. We have got the guy at number 10 who is in there sulking.
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Mr. Corbyn announced a new shadow cabinet on Monday, after most members of his former leadership team resigned.
