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Corbyn suffers humiliating defeat
LONDON: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suffered a humiliating defeat on Tuesday when 172 MPs voted against him in a confidence motion supported by only 40, piling pressure
LONDON: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suffered a humiliating defeat on Tuesday when 172 MPs voted against him in a confidence motion supported by only 40, piling pressure on him to resign.
The vote in Labour’s parliamentary party was held after an exodus of over 50 members of his shadow cabinet since Sunday. He is accused of not doing enough to win last week’s referendum 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 Brexit vote on Friday.
The Conservative party is also in the throes of electing a new leader who will also take over as the next prime minister by October. As 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 means that the next prime minister will be in place by early September.
Chancellor George Osborne was considered in the pre-Brexit situation as the most likely successor to David Cameron, but he ruled himself out on Tuesday.
Corbyn, who has insisted he will stay on, enjoys the support of party members who will get to vote again in the event of another leadership contest.
Corbyn was elected leaderless than a year ago.
Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP who tabled the no-confidence motion, said a meeting of the parliamentary party on Monday night extraordinary. She said: “I couldn’t believe the strength of feeling, the overwhelming rejection of Jeremy as our leader, and the plea ding with him that he should consider his position and go with dignity.”
But the pro-Corbyn shadow health secretary Diane Abbott said the no-confidence vote has no meaning: “MPs don’t choose the leader of the Labour Party, the party does.”
