Mr Corbyn said: “I was elected by hundreds of thousands of Labour party members and supporters with an overwhelming mandate for a different kind of politics”.
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Labour MPs, most have whom have been hostile to Mr Corbyn’s leadership from the start, have been emboldened to strike against him amid anecdotal evidence that some party members who voted for him previous year now want him to go.
Under-fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been forced to fill more than half his shadow cabinet posts following a set of mass resignations over his handling of the EU Remain campaign.
Mr Corbyn has vowed to fight on as leader, challenging the rebels to put up a candidate to stand against him.
Mr Corbyn has unveiled his new shadow cabinet this morning including Diane Abbott as shadow health secretary and Pat Glass as shadow education secretary.
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.
Amid the flurry of resignations, Corbyn announced a number of appointments to replace those who quit on Sunday, promoting several members of his inner core of left-wing supporters to senior defence and foreign policy roles.
Her twin sister Maria also resigned as shadow culture secretary, while John Healey, Lisa Nandy, Owen Smith, Nia Griffith, Kate Green and Luciana Berger also quit – adding to the 12 shadow cabinet members Mr Corbyn lost on Sunday.
So the next Labour leader will inevitably come from the Remain side, but will be tasked with winning back the support of voters who turned against the party on Britain’s most consequential political decision for generations.
“As much as I respect you as a man of principle, I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding”, Alexander wrote in her resignation letter to Corbyn, which she published on Twitter.
“It’s about us, most of all it’s about them, the brilliant people of the United Kingdom, even the ones who don’t agree with us”.
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“My single focus is to hold the Labour Party together in very turbulent times”.
