Corbyn may quit, admits election boss

JEREMY Corbyn may quit as Labour leader ‘of his own volition’ if the party’s disastrous performance in the polls continues, its new campaign chief revealed yesterday.

Mr Corbyn denied claims last week that he had privately set a departure date, describing the reports as ‘fake news’.

But Ian Lavery, appointed last week as Labour’s joint elections chief, acknowledged yesterday that the hard-Left leader may resign before the 2020 election.

He confirmed that Labour had conducted internal polling on alternative leaders, including shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey and shadow education secretary Angela Rayner. But he denied this was ‘road testing’ a new leader, saying it was ‘not uncommon for any political party to conduct these political polls’.

He told Pienaar’s Politics on BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘They are fantastic candidates. We have lots of quality in the Labour Party.

‘There’s plenty of leaders to pick from if and when Jeremy decides, of his own volition, that it’s not for him at the election. That isn’t the case at this point in time.’

His intervention came as the party’s deputy leader Tom Watson warned that Mr Corbyn must ‘improve’ after a raft of dire opinion polls. A YouGov survey last week found the party leader is unpopular with voters in every age group, social class and region – and suggested he is seen to be failing by most Labour voters.

Leaked private polling conducted for the party revealed voters think Mr Corbyn is ‘boring’ and appears ‘fed up’ with the job.

Rebel MPs who tried to oust him last year accept privately that he can only be removed if he quits or allies force him out.