I’m not to blame for these defections, says Corbyn the defiant

JEREMY Corbyn slapped down the MPS who quit Labour last night, telling them they were elected to deliver the party’s manifesto.

This came despite Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell saying that mr Corbyn needed to change his leadership style and undertake a ‘mammoth listening exercise’.

mr Corbyn suggested that if the rebels felt they were not being listened to, then it was not his fault.

Speaking before Joan Ryan became the eighth defector, he said: ‘anyone who thinks they are not being consulted are not taking up, in my view, the opportunities that are available there and open and ready for them at all times to do that,’ he said.

he said of their departure: ‘i regret that seven MPS decided they would no longer remain part of the Labour Party. i thank them for their work. i hope they realise they were elected to Parliament on a manifesto that was based around investment in the future; that was based around a more equal and fairer society; that was based around social justice. They were elected to carry out those policies. They decided to go somewhere else,’ he told the annual conference of the manufacturers’ group make Uk. The first seven defectors quit the party on monday blaming a culture of ‘bullying and bigotry’, a failure to tackle anti-Semitism and frustration over the leadership’s reluctance to back a second referendum.

Mr McDonnell had called for the defectors to fight by- elections for their seats. But speaking yesterday, he said the party was focused on ‘finding a way forward’ and the need to ‘bring people in [and] talk to them’. he said: ‘i think we need a mammoth, massive listening exercise and to address some of those criticisms that have been made.’ he added: ‘if there are issues that we have to address, we’ll address them; if it is about the style of the leadership, we’ll address that; if it is about policy, we will listen to that as well.’

But Labour MP Wes Streeting, chairman of the all-Party group against antisemitism, tweeted: ‘a little less conversation a little more action please. Kick out the racists. This isn’t complicated.’ Deputy leader Tom Watson, said the split was ‘a moment for regret and reflection, not for a mood of anger or a tone of triumph’.

he said it was ‘time for the party to broaden out so that all the members of our broad church feel welcome in our congregation’. Yesterday, one of the new independent MPS who quit Labour said she was ‘very tired’ when she appeared to describe black people as having a ‘funny’ tint or tinge.

angela Smith said she ‘misspoke really badly’, and put her error down to hours of media activities when the breakaway group launched on monday.