Share

Labour’s Sarah Champion ‘unresigns’ from shadow frontbench

And amongst the councillors, 65 per cent believe the MP for Pontypridd gives the Labour Party the best chance of winning their constituency at the next General Election, compared to 23 per cent who think it is best to stick with Mr Corbyn.

Advertisement

250,000 people voted for Corbyn less than a year previously, yet a load of Labour MPs decided that they know better than the party membership, so they tried to bully Corbyn into quitting so as to avoid a democratic leadership election (because they knew that they would nearly certainly lose it).

The spokesman said: ‘There’s always work to be done.

With the failure of efforts to make Mr Corbyn resign and the polls showing that he is expected to comfortably beat leadership challenger Owen Smith, it remains to be seen whether other shadow ministers will take up his offer and resume their roles.

The findings offer further proof that grassroots support for Corbyn remains firm despite weeks of bitter conflict between the leader and Labour MPs at Westminster, a large majority of whom backed a vote of no confidence in him after the European Union referendum.

In a series of messages on Twitter she said Mr Corbyn’s position was untenable and warned: “If we’re not united, we’re doomed”.

She said at the time: “I have just stepped down from my shadow minister job, but not my responsibilities to my constituents, party or victims of abuse”.

But today Mr Corbyn’s office revealed that Ms Champion had sent a letter to the leader saying she wanted her old job back.

Speaking on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show, Mr McDonnell challenged critics of the leadership to confront them directly and not to “pick on” staff who were not in a position to defend themselves.

Labour signed up more than 183,000 new registered supporters in 48 hours last week, all of whom will now be eligible to vote, after paying the £25 fee imposed by the party’s national executive.

Ms Champion resigned on June 28.

There is a grim mood among Labour MPs at the moment.

The group of female MPs – including former shadow ministers Heidi Alexander, Paula Sherriff and Kerry McCarthy – say intimidation has been carried out in Mr Corbyn’s name.

“Jeremy does not know my father, so I can only presume that because of the much-publicised fact that my father was a Sinn Fein councillor, Jeremy felt that they would share a political affinity and was proposing to use that to ask my father to apply pressure on me”.

Elsewhere, Labour’s shadow Lords leader Baroness Smith of Basildon revealed she would support Mr Smith in his battle with Mr Corbyn for the leadership.

The resignations followed a no confidence vote in Mr Corbyn among MPs and were an attempt to force him to step down.

Advertisement

In a survey of 350 Labour councillors across 250 marginal constituencies, Anglia Ruskin University found that 60 per cent backed Smith.

MP Back In Shadow Cabinet After Unresigning