Corbyn resists call to ‘resign’

Lawmakers quit

LONDON, June 27, (Agencies): A wave of lawmakers from the opposition Labour Party resigned in protest from leader Jeremy Corbyn’s team on Monday, including his most senior business policy chief who said Corbyn was partly to blame for last week’s vote to leave the EU.

Corbyn has resisted pressure to quit over what critics say was his lacklustre effort to keep Britain inside the European Union, saying on Sunday that he would stand again in any leadership election triggered by the party revolt. “Too many of our supporters were taken in by right-wing arguments and I believe this happened, in part, because under your leadership the case to remain in the EU was made with half-hearted ambivalence rather than full throated clarity,” wrote Angela Eagle, Corbyn’s top business spokeswoman, in a resignation letter she later posted on Twitter.

Eagle was one of at least 16 members of his shadow ministerial team to have resigned in the last two days. All of those resigning will remain elected members of parliament.

Corbyn was elected party leader last year on a surprise wave of grassroots enthusiasm for his left-wing agenda and promise of a new approach to politics. But his relationship with elected lawmakers has always been fragile, with many questioning whether the party could win a national election on such a ticket.

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 leftwing supporters to senior defence and foreign policy roles.

Support

Sky News reported that Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson met Corbyn earlier on Monday to warn that he had lost the support of the party, and would face a brutal contest to replace him.

Eleven members of the veteran socialist’s top team resigned Sunday, blaming him for failing to rally the party’s core working-class vote base to support the “Remain” campaign.

But Corbyn hit back, saying he would not betray the trust of the party members who elected him only last September, and vowed to “reshape” his shadow cabinet starting on Monday.

“I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me — or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them.

“Those who want to change Labour’s leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate,” he said in a statement.

The comments came after a day of high drama which started overnight Saturday with the sacking of foreign affairs spokesman Hilary Benn, who had told Corbyn he did not have confidence in his leadership.

Problem

“He’s a good and decent man but he is not a leader, and that’s the problem,” Benn told the BBC.

Benn’s departure triggered a wave of resignations, including health spokeswoman Heidi Alexander, education spokeswoman Lucy Powell, Scottish spokesman Ian Murray and transport spokeswoman Lilian Greenwood.

By late Sunday 11 members of Corbyn’s top team had quit, also including justice spokesman Lord Charles Falconer, who was a close friend of former Labour leader Tony Blair, whom he served as lord chancellor.

“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.

One third of Labour voters chose to leave the European Union in Thursday’s historic vote, against the advice of the majority of the party’s MPs and the leadership.

Critics say Corbyn — who for decades had expressed eurosceptic views — could have done more to sway voters.

Two Labour MPs tabled a vote of no confidence in Corbyn on Friday, which is expected to be discussed at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party on Monday.

In his statement late Sunday, Corbyn said: “Over the next 24 hours I will reshape my shadow cabinet and announce a new leadership team to take forward Labour’s campaign for a fairer Britain — and to get the best deal with Europe for our people.”