It has to do with the fact that Corbyn did fuck all to get Labour voters out to vote Remain, and that in the reasonably likely event of a general election next year, there are no doubt more than a few pro-Remain Tory voters (like myself) who would vote for a moderate Labour party but not one led by a communist.
If Benn has been plotting against Corbyn then Corbyn was within his rights to sack him. I cannot stand Corbyn. I hope he leads Labour into the next election with disastrous consequences. He’s a walking disaster. But he cannot be described as pathetic because of this sacking.
I have read suggestions that if Corbyn is unseated as leader then he will not be named on the shortlist of new candidates. That really would be the nuclear option for the PLP and the Labour Party in general.
I watched Corbyn at Sky News young people forum last week. I couldn’t figure out which side he really supported.
It’s now up to ten members of the Shadow Cabinet that have been sacked or resigned.
Current resignation total: Twelve shadow cabinet members, five shadow ministers and one parliamentary aide. Boom.
I’m curious as to whether Benn will actually mount a leadership challenge.
unless grass roots feelings have changed, and unless they can get Corbyn off the card, there may not be much point.
Do they even have a somewhat socialist MP who is more electable than Corbyn, because that could be a compromise perhaps
So why are all these Shadow Ministers resigning? They’re the opposition, right? They’re not responsible for how the government botched the leadership and communications to the public surrounding the Brexit vote, are they?
Yes, the Labour Party is the main opposition party in the UK right now. But Corbyn is seen by many as having handled his anti-Brexit campaigning poorly, and also as the wrong person to lead the party into the next general election.
23 out of 31 members of the Labour shadow cabinet have now departed.
David Cameron: “I’d like to welcome the new member for Tooting and advise her to keep her mobile phone on. She might be in the shadow cabinet before the end of the day!”
Corbyn crushed in vote of no confidence from the Parliamentary Labour Party
This is a poorly written story. It says there were 172 votes against him. It says nothing about either the total number of votes cast, or the number voting in favor of him.
Can someone provide more comprehensive numbers?
It’s been updated. 40 voted for
Corbyn, 13 didn’t vote , and 172 against
Jeez, that IS crushing.
It is odd that there were 4 spoilt ballots. These are Members of Parliament, not octogenarians trying to fill out a ballot they can’t even see through the haze of cataracts.
Sir Gerald Kaufman is 85, Dennis Skinner is 84.
Wow. Sucks to be Corbyn right now. Hard to see how he can hang on after that massive a rebuke by his colleagues.
Corbyn remains popular with party members, so a few times recently he’s thrown out that if anyone wants to challenge him, they’ll need to beat him in a leadership ballot.
But regardless, I can’t see how he could continue now, given such an overwhelming vote of no confidence in the house.
I admit when Corbyn was first elected Labour Party leader last year, I was deeply sceptical of him due to some of his sillier ultra-leftist tendencies especially on matters of foreign policy (I supported Burnham). However, the past few days have greatly improved my opinion of the man for the courage he’s displaying against the putsch being undertaken by those in his own party and solidified the opinion that he must stand his ground. Truly it is baffling to see at a moment when the Tory Party is on the brink of civil war and the success of the Brexit referendum has bolstered the UKIP and thus promises to even further divide the Right, that the Labour Party should pull defeat out of the jaws of victory by trying to purge a party leader elected in accordance with the rules. Apparently persecuting insufficient zeal in being on the losing side of a referendum campaign is preferable to advancing the principles of the Labour Party in an unprecedented electoral opportunity, when instead of binding the party even further to an unpopular affirmation of the status quo it could campaign a platform that seeks to heal the divide between Bremain and Brexit forces by supporting a more egalitarian, socially just, and (dare I say it?) greater Britain and thus win back the votes of the economically deprived, the white working-class, and other marginalized individuals who strongly supported Brexit for Labour. Certainly any left of centre Europhile with a IQ higher then room temperature will realize that Labour is the only acceptable option regardless unless they wish to choose impotency with the Lib Dems.
Why should Labour-historically a working-class, social democratic/socialist party-abandon its core doctrines to turn itself into purely a vehicle for Europhiles? It’s as absurd as a Baptist demanding the Roman Catholic Church abandon its teachings on baptism, papal infallibility, eschatology, and so forth so he could join that denomination. Why wouldn’t Labour instead try to win over working-class voters who voted in favour of Brexit and who can actually be expected to have interests that coincide with the socioeconomic policies of the Labour Party?
The Labour party is broadly Europhile, and even with Corbyn’s lackluster campaign, some 2/3 Labour voters still backed Remain. So who abandoned party principles?
And another question: do you think Cameron should have stepped down over the vote?
Ftr, I’d have voted for Remain. That said, it’s why Corbyn officially endorsed the Remain position-he’s being attacked not for supporting Brexit but because of sufficient lack of zeal. And while, Labour may be broadly Europhile that isn’t the driving force of the party, which instead is (or at least ought to be) social democracy and working-class interests.
Yes, although it’s mostly because I want to see him gone more then anything else.