Labour turmoil:
Hundreds of Young Labour members and Islington council group among latest rebels
JEREMY CORBYN is today expected to face a formal leadership challenge after refusing to resign despite eight in 10 Labour MPs declaring they had lost confidence in him.
The extent of the Labour leader’s lack of support was laid bare yesterday as 172 MPs supported a motion of no confidence in him as just 40 voted the other way.
It led to more front-bench resignations, taking the total to more than 50 in three days, as Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, became the most senior figure to call for him to go.
Young members, a city mayor and even his own council also appeared to pull their support.
Mr Corbyn remained defiant saying he would not “betray” party members who swept him into power last year.
MPs are preparing to formally trigger a leadership race by putting 50 signatures next to a single candidate and submitting the letter to Iain McNicol, Labour’s general secretary.
Angela Eagle, the former business secretary, or deputy leader Tom Watson is expected to lead the challenge.
The Islington Labour group, which runs his borough in north London, dropped plans for a motion to express “confidence in Jeremy Corbyn” after dozens of front-bench resignations.
More than 50 front-benchers have quit in the past three days, including two thirds of the shadow cabinet, in a concerted effort to depose Mr Corbyn.
Diane Abbott, the shadow health secretary promoted by Mr Corbyn this week, dismissed concerns about whether he could win a general election as being “Westminster-centric”.
However, evidence has emerged of a backlash from supporters such as Sir Peter Soulsby, Labour mayor of Leicester, and almost 400 Young Labour members called on him to quit.
Critics said the interventions raised questions about Mr Corbyn’s backing among the membership base – support that the leader’s office has pointed to when justifying his decision not to resign.
The Labour leader yesterday faced 10 more resignations from his team, including Andy Slaughter, one of his allies, who stepped down as a shadow justice minister after rejecting the offer of a role in the shadow cabinet.
Other significant resignations included Sarah Champion, a shadow home office minister, and Andrew Gwynne, a shadow health minister.
Mr Corbyn’s team is now so depleted there is speculation that he and John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, will have to frequently step in to represent Labour in front-bench debates.
In another blow to the Labour leader, Pat Glass, his new shadow education secretary, announced that she intends to stand down at the next election just a day after her appointment. In a letter to Mr Corbyn she said that she had found the EU referendum campaign “divisive” and disclosed that she had received death threats.
Ms Abbott defended the Labour leader, dismissing concerns about his electability. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What I’m saying is what the party wants is for MPs to actually come behind the leader.”
However, a former shadow cabinet minister who quit among the mass resignations in recent days said the party is in jeopardy unless Mr Corbyn is forced out before an election.
“This the struggle of a lifetime,” the source told The Telegraph.
“There is only one option now and that is an absolutely full-scale appeal to the membership. The survival of the party depends on beating him.”
It came as the Huffington Post published details of how a move to show support for Mr Corbyn from his local Labour branch after the recent coup was ditched. Osh Gantly, a Corbyn supporter and a councillor for his own ward, reportedly proposed the “emergency” motion to a meeting of all his colleagues on Monday evening.
Anger over the country’s vote to leave the EU and Mr Corbyn’s failure to win over more voters meant the motion was not supported. One insider said: “After the Brexit vote, we can’t come out saying we have confidence in him.”
Sir Peter, one of the party’s most influential regional politicians, called on Mr Corbyn to resign.
He told a local paper: “His position is now completely untenable… There is no objective person who thinks that he can lead Labour to victory.”
A letter signed by almost 400 Young Labour members called on Mr Corbyn to go. “We believe that Jeremy Corbyn must step down as leader of the Labour Party in order to allow the party to choose a successor who can learn the lessons from this referendum and our two general election defeats,” it read. “Recent events have shown that we will not be in a position to support our generation and win power without a serious change at the top.
“Young people need a Labour leader who can learn from both our election defeats and the referendum and reach out to our core supporters as well as swing voters.”
Open Labour, the soft-Left grassroots organisation formed after Mr Corbyn’s election as leader, called for a contest and said: “The Labour Party is feeling an almost unbearable pressure caused by these countervailing forces, with the very real threat of an existential crisis for our party.”