Labour warns Corbyn over ‘weak’ leadership
JEREMY Corbyn was warned by his own MPs last night that his ‘weak leadership’ and ‘poor judgment’ could keep Labour out of power until 2030. Open warfare erupted in Labour ranks as the party slumped to its worst election performance in Scotland since 1910. It also became the first Opposition party in 30 years to lose council seats in England.
More than a dozen MPs queued up to tear into the embattled leader – lambasting him as ‘not credible’. One said the ‘clock was ticking’ on his leadership – with rebels giving him 12 months to get his act together or risk being ousted.
Mr Corbyn said the party had ‘hung on’, with the estimated
‘Waiting for the hangman’
loss of more than 20 seats in England a less dismal showing than some analysts had predicted.
But, in a brutal intervention, Labour’s Shadow Scots Secretary Ian Murray said: ‘I don’t think that the public see the Labour party led by Jeremy Corbyn at the moment as being credible.’
David Cameron poured salt into the wound by ridiculing Labour’s performance. This was despite the Tories losing seats in southern England and seeing Zac Goldsmith heavily beaten in the acrimonious contest to be London Mayor.
Mr Cameron said: ‘Local election day for sitting Prime Ministers is supposed to be a day of dread. It’s meant to be when you sit there waiting for someone to knock like the condemned man waiting for the hangman. That wasn’t what it was like last night.’ On an extraordinary day:
The Tories enjoyed a huge surge in support north of the border – forcing Labour into a humiliating third place behind the SNP;
George Osborne claimed Labour was finished as a party of majority government in the UK;
Analysts said the Tories now had a better than nine in ten chance of winning the 2020 general election;
Sadiq Khan became London’s first Muslim mayor;
Labour candidates said the anti-Semitism row in the party had cost them victory in some areas.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Murray added: ‘I was promised a Corbyn bounce when he became Labour leader and I’m not sure we’ve seen it. In fact we probably have seen a bounce but it’s the wrong way.’
Others from the party’s ranks joined in the criticism. In a joint article, Labour MPs Neil Coyle and Jo Cox said they regretted putting Mr Corbyn on the leadership ballot. They wrote in the Guardian: ‘Weak leadership and poor judgment have created distractions and stopped us getting our message across.
‘Without a focused leadership we will continue to go backwards, offering the Tories the prospect of power through 2020, 2025 and beyond. What we cannot, must not do is sit back and hope for the best.’
However Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, a key ally of Mr Corbyn, responded by telling ‘begrudgers’ in the party to ‘put up or shut up’
Labour avoided losing some vulnerable English councils, and remained the biggest single party in Wales. But Labour MPs pointed out that the party’s vote share in key councils – including the bellwether area of Nuneaton, in Warwickshire – had fallen sharply. They added that, since 1985, Opposition parties had always won council seats in England.
After 99 out of 124 council results it has lost 23 councillors compared with 2012. Labour also lost one council. Moderates had been demanding 400 seats gained. The Tories lost 32 seats.
Mr Corbyn said: ‘All across England last night we were getting predictions that Labour was going to lose councils. We didn’t, we hung on.’ In Scotland, where Mr Corbyn’s allies had claimed his antiausterity stance would play well, the party was humiliated by both the SNP and Conservatives.
Former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie said Mr Corbyn seemed to have his ‘fingers in his ears’. He added: ‘If they think this is doing well, I would hate to see what doing badly looks like.’
Batley and Spen MP Mrs Cox, who nominated Mr Corbyn for leader, added: ‘The clock is ticking. This is not a route back to power for Labour so it’s actually been an incredibly disappointing night.’
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson insisted there were ‘crumbs of comfort’ and the leader should be given time.
This was seen as a signal that there should be no coup – for now. Mr McDonnell admitted the antiSemitism row had ‘set us back’, but insisted that the party would ‘come out of this stronger’.