Corbyn ‘very happy’ despite warning of plot to oust him from Labour leadership

JEREMY Corbyn has insisted he is “very happy” and Labour is moving forward, as a key ally warned a “soft coup” was under way against his leadership.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said elements within the party, in alliance with the Murdoch media, were intent on “destroying” Mr Corbyn and all he stood for.

Mr Corbyn insisted that the party was moving forwards under his leadership and would “learn the lessons” of the historic by-election defeat in Copeland.

Labour’s Gareth Snell won the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election, seeing off the challenge of Ukip leader Paul Nuttall, but the party lost Copeland, an area it had held since 1935.

Welcoming Mr Snell to Westminster, Mr Corbyn said his victory showed the people of Stoke “rejecting the politics of fear and instead voting for the politics of hope”.

Asked about Mr McDonnell’s warning of a soft coup, Mr Corbyn said: “I am very happy, we are going forward.

“Policies will be coming out, more campaigns are going on.”

In an article posted on the Labour Briefing website, Mr McDonnell accused the “covert coup plotters” of doing all they could to undermine Mr Corbyn.

He said the plotters, who he did not name, were so determined to get rid of Mr Corbyn they were not only prepared to jeopardise their own seats, they were endangering the very existence of the party.

“We have to alert party members and supporters that the soft coup is under way,” he wrote. “It’s planned, co-ordinated and fully resourced.

“It is being perpetrated by an alliance between elements in the Labour Party and the Murdoch media empire, both intent on destroying Jeremy Corbyn and all that he stands for.”

Mr McDonnell’s warning comes after Labour former cabinet minister Lord Mandelson disclosed last week he was working “every single day” to bring Mr Corbyn’s leadership to an end.

Mr McDonnell said, after last year’s failed coup attempt, the plotters realised a direct attack on Mr Corbyn was liable to provoke a backlash from grassroots party members, so they were now working behind the scenes to destabilise him. JEREMY Corbyn stooped to pick up a piece of paper that he dropped at the windswept entrance to the Houses of Parliament as he greeted new Stoke-on-Trent MP Gareth Snell and his family.

Mr Corbyn watched proudly as Mr Snell, who had a majority of 2,620 over Ukip leader Paul Nuttall, was sworn in. Mr Snell was walked to the despatch box by his colleagues Ruth Smeeth and Jack Dromey, amid cheers from the Labour benches. He then chose to make a solemn affirmation instead of swearing an oath.