London Mayor Sadiq Khan called on members of the United Kingdom opposition Labour Party to oust Jeremy Corbyn as their leader in a vote that starts Monday, saying Corbyn is “extremely unlikely” to lead Labour back to power.
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“I am afraid we simply can not afford to go on like this”.
In a stinging attack in the Observer, Khan said Corbyn had failed to win the trust of voters and that Labour was extremely unlikely to secure a return to power as long as he remained leader.
Although he is persuading Labour members to back him, Jeremy Corbyn is still thought to be much more popular amongst the Party membership and Registered Supporters.
“I know from my own election – up against a nasty and divisive Tory campaign – that if we are strong and clear enough in our convictions, the message will get through to the public”, he said.
“Throughout the campaign and aftermath, Jeremy failed to show the leadership we desperately needed”, Khan wrote.
“We also say to those people who are relatively well off, ‘are you happy walking past the homeless and the starving on the streets of our country when there is no need for that, when we could do things very differently?'”.
Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith have been fighting an increasingly bitter head-to-head battle for the Labour leadership since former Pensions Secretary Angela Eagle pulled out of the race on 19 July, backing Smith.
Dugdale also steered clear of the UK Labour leadership contest past year, although at the time she was also a candidate herself in the race to be Scottish leader.
Writing in the Observer, Mr Khan said Mr Corbyn had “totally failed” to get his messages across in the UK’s European Union referendum in June.
Khan said he had only backed Corbyn so members had a chance to have a choice of a left-wing candidate.
Friends of Al-Aqsa are alleged to have given a cheque for £10,000 to Mr. Corbyn, an outspoken critic of Israel, when he was bidding to become Labour leader in 2015.
Corbyn is favourite to win the leadership contest, supported by thousands of members who swept him to power previous year amid a desire for change.
“I would call on Jeremy to show leadership here tonight and ask the people to stop booing Labour MPs and genuinely work with us and not encourage this or allow this to happen”, he said.
He added: “Simply opposing Tory policies will never be enough to help the people we exist to support”.
Opinion polls continue to predict victory for Corbyn who has widespread grassroots support.
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The result of the leadership election will be announced on September 24 at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool.
