The leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, reacts after the announcement of his victory in the party’s leadership election, in Liverpool, Britain September 24, 2016.
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Pontypridd MP Owen Smith’s hopes of leading Labour were dashed when he won 193,229 votes compared to Mr Corbyn’s 313,209.
Labour’s home affairs spokesman Andy Burnham said the party’s “war of attrition” must now stop but urged Corbyn to build support among the public, not just activists.
Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to unite Labour after he was re-elected as the party’s leader on Saturday – but again refused to rule out the deselection of Labour MPs once the new boundary map comes into play. “Let’s wipe the slate clean from today”, he pleaded in his victory speech, saying “we have much more in common than divides us”.
Their anger at Corbyn’s reign can be seen in the messages put out, and responses received, by people such as JK Rowling who think the party under his leadership cannot win a general election.
A YouGov “exit poll” found 64 per cent of Labour members in the North backed Mr Corbyn, the highest proportion of any region in the country.
The ruling party, under new Prime Minister Theresa May, still leads by seven percentage points in opinion polls and looks set to plot Britain’s exit from the European Union largely unopposed.
Labour MPs, who triggered the contest with a vote of no confidence, now face the choice of whether to unite behind Mr Corbyn or face further wrath from party members for their stance.
John Healey said allowing shadow cabinet elections could be an “olive branch”, but senior Labour MPs who walked out on Mr Corbyn in the recent coup have cast doubt over whether the idea will ever be implemented.
He also has to convince many Labour members of parliament, some of whom decided not to attend the annual conference, that his left-wing policies, such as renationalisation and campaigning against nuclear weapons, can have broad appeal.
“I’m not proud of what happened and I accept I was in the wrong, but I have nothing to hide”, she said.
Mr Corbyn, 67, attracts a devoted following, but his election to leader a year ago on a wave of enthusiasm for change also unleashed a backlash against centrist lawmakers where personal attacks, allegations of anti-Semitism and abuse left little room for debate over policy.
“I lost control after being provoked for years and for that I am sorry, but I felt extremely vulnerable at that moment”. If you look at policy issues within our party there’s very little difference between us all on the vast bulk of policy.
He said he hoped they would now “listen to the members “.
The businessman was made a Labour peer in 2000 and served as a frontbencher under Ed Miliband.
“I have come to the painful conclusion that were Mr Corbyn re-elected”.
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Many political observers have said it is only a matter of time before there’s another challenge to Corbyn’s leadership.
