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UK Labour leader Corbyn refuses to quit after losing confidence vote
British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn lost a confidence vote on Tuesday, with 172 of his Labour Party’s lawmakers voting against him and 40 in favour amid political turmoil in Britain following a vote to leave the European Union.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suffered a humiliating defeat on Tuesday when 172 MPs voted against him in a no-confidence motion while he was supported by only 40, putting more pressure on him to resign.
The vote in Labour’s parliamentary party was held after an exodus of more than 50 members of his shadow cabinet since Sunday. Corbyn is accused of not doing enough to win last week’s referendum on Britain’s future in the European Union amid accusations that he is not competent enough to lead the party to electoral victory.
Labour’s woes were part of the turmoil in British politics since the Brexit vote on Friday. The Conservative Party too is in the throes of electing a new leader who will also take over as the next prime minister by October.
As Conservative Party managers announced Thursday as the deadline for nominations for the next party leader, more senior MPs are likely to join the race that is widely expected to lead to Boris Johnson becoming the leader and prime minister.
Senior leaders Theresa May, Liam Fox, Michael Gove, Stephen Crabb and Jeremy Hunt are the other likely candidates. There are Tory members keen to ensure that “anyone but Boris” becomes the prime minister.
The shorter timeline announced by the party’s private members’ committee means that the next premier will be in place by early September.
Chancellor George Osborne was considered in the pre-Brexit situation as the most likely successor to Prime Minister David Cameron, but he ruled himself out on Tuesday, and said he would accept any responsibility should the next premier ask him to do so.
Corbyn was elected leader less than a year ago.
Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP who tabled the no-confidence motion, described a meeting of the parliamentary party on Monday night as extraordinary. She said: “I couldn’t believe the strength of feeling, the overwhelming rejection of Jeremy as our leader, and the pleading with him that he should consider his position and go with dignity.”
But pro-Corbyn shadow health secretary Diane Abbott said the no-confidence vote “has no meaning”. She added: “MPs don’t choose the leader of the Labour Party, the party does. I think it is really sad that colleagues have chosen to stage this three-ring circus because they don’t want to have a leadership election because they are not certain of winning a leadership election. The way to resolve this is to have a leadership election.”
