Go now, Corbyn ally tells ‘moaning’ MPs

A CLOSE ally of Jeremy Corbyn has goaded disaffected Labour MPs to “resign now” rather than delay any plans to form a breakaway movement.

Addressing the MPs, who are increasingly concerned about Mr Corbyn’s approach to Brexit and issues such as anti-Semitism, David Rosenberg said their failure to stand down immediately would lead to “months more of moaning”.

His claims are likely to further inflame tensions within Labour over Mr Corbyn’s leadership, after Remainsupporting MPs reacted with fury to an offer by the Labour leader to support Mrs May’s deal if she met a series of demands.

The comments came in response to reports last week that MPs including Angela Smith, Chris Leslie and Luciana Berger were preparing to quit Labour as early as the spring in order to form a new centre-ground political grouping.

Each of the MPs has criticised Mr Corbyn over his approach to anti-Semitism in the party and has been frustrated at his resistance to endorsing a second referendum on Brexit.

Mr Rosenberg, 60th birthday party Mr Corbyn spoke last year, said: “If they are that desperate to go, they should resign now.

“I don’t just mean resign the whip, I mean step down and fight a by-election now against a new democratically and locally elected Labour candidate.”

In a post on Facebook, Mr Rosenberg, a Labour activist in Mr Corbyn’s north London constituency, added: “They might find their charismatic personalities may not be enough. When they say they will resign the whip, they don’t

‘I don’t mean just resign the whip … step down and fight a by-election now’

mean now, actually as in today, they mean maybe in spring or summer. That could be months more of moaning!”

Mr Corbyn “doesn’t recognise a woman’s feelings,” the Labour leader’s first wife has claimed in a new book by Tom Bower, the investigative journalist.

“He didn’t acknowledge my emotional side,” Jane Chapman told Mr Bower in the book, serialised in the Mail on Sunday.