In a high-profile intervention in the ongoing election for the next Labour leader, London mayor Sadiq Khan on Sunday appealed to party members to vote in favour of Owen Smith, who is challenging the current leader and favourite, Jeremy Corbyn.
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“Jeremy has already proved that he is unable to organise an effective team and has failed to win the trust and respect of the British people”, he continued.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been pictured arriving in Sheffield ahead of a huge city centre rally this evening – and making amusing faces at a young supporter.
In the damning article, Mr Khan accuses the Labour leader of failing to “win the trust and respect of the British people”, saying his lack of leadership had become clear during the European Union referendum.
In a letter to the Guardian, over a hundred former and retired Labour party staff said the attack on workers was “depressing” in wake of the recent legal challenges to the voting rules for the leadership race from members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and general secretary Iain McNicol, who could be ousted from his position.
“Yes, we do have to win over some people that have been tempted to vote Tory”.
Khan, who nominated Corbyn past year and says he does not regret the decision, also criticises Corbyn’s leadership skills, saying that “Jeremy has already proved that he is unable to organise an effective team”.
Fellow Labour MP and Corbyn critic Wes Streeting said the leader’s view would make him unfit to be PM in the public’s eyes.
At the hustings in Birmingham, Mr Smith said: “I feel right now we are not about to win in Kingswood and Milton Keynes and Cardiff North and all of the 116 seats we have got to win from the Tories”. It is certainly delivering vastly improved results on the general, local and mayoral election defeats suffered under Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband – not to mention losing all but one of the party’s 41 seats in Scotland overnight in 2015.
Now, Mr Khan has come out in favour of a change at the top of the party, giving a much needed boost to Mr Smith.
Mr Corbyn often reminds us that every Parliamentary by-election and the London Mayoral election have been won under his leadership.
In an interview with the Observer last weekend, Corbyn blamed any failure to get his messages on policy across on mutinous and disloyal MPs and others who had never accepted his leadership.
He pledged to “win over people.by the policies we put forward”, such as decent housing and security at work, including “some people that have been tempted to vote Tory” in the past.
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He said: “We belong to an alliance but he told our allies ‘I’m not necessarily sure that we’ll come to help you'”. Ballot papers will be sent out starting Monday, with the result due to be announced September 24.
