Only Jeremy can save Labour now – by quitting

AFTER the disaster of the Copeland by-election, only one man can now save the Labour Party – Jeremy Corbyn.

Only he can rescue us from meltdown at the next general election and the prospect of being out of power for a generation.

Sadly for Jeremy, it involves him taking the hardest of decisions for a politician and admitting that he simply isn’t up to the job.

Since his big relaunch in the new year, Labour lags 18 points behind the Tories, Corbyn’s personal ratings are lower than Michael Foot’s and now we have lost Copeland, a seat we have held since the 1930s, the latest sign that working-class voters are turning to Theresa May.

We all know Jeremy has a mandate from Labour members who elected him.

But it’s no use banging on about how many members Labour has if we can’t translate that into votes where it matters – at the ballot box.

Sadly, Jeremy is surrounded by a coterie of advisers and friends who misguidedly think their duty is to tell him to stay on, regardless of what that means for the future of the party, the country and people who desperately need a Labour Government.

I admire Jeremy for standing up for social justice and the dispossessed. But he is not a leader and never will be.

When I observed recently that he has all the charisma and leadership skills of a Hula Hoop – I received a barrage of criticism from people who said I was being unfair to the savoury snack which, unlike Jeremy, is both popular and loved by the public.

For someone who prides himself on being a decent man, there is a whiff of arrogance about his refusal to take any responsibility for what happened in Copeland.

Part of leadership is having the humility to admit when things are not going so well and to be big enough to acknowledge that you may be part of the problem.

That is not to say all the troubles facing the Labour Party are Jeremy’s fault. Many things were wrong before he became leader, but things are getting worse, not better, on his watch.

Corbyn’s circle are wrong to claim that divisions in the party have made us plummet in the polls.

Despite the Copeland fiasco, there will be no repeat of last summer’s ill-advised leadership challenge against him.

Jeremy won with an increased mandate and Labour MPs have decided to keep their heads down, shut up and let him get on with it.

Even though there is no question of a putsch, I believe there is

a profound moral question for Corbyn.

As someone desperate to see a Labour Government again, I beg you Jeremy: look into your soul and ponder deeply if you really are the right leader.

No man is bigger than the Labour movement.

Is your clinging on as leader more important than Labour’s very survival as a major political force?

If you think deeply, I think you will come to the only honest conclusion: you will stand down for the sake of the party I know that you love.