A Corbyn supporter at a rally in Westminster last night (Photo by Oscar Webb)
Jeremy Corbyn just lost a Vote of No Confidence among Labour MPs. It’s being reported that 172 voted against JC, while 40 backed him. That means 81 percent of his MPs want him to step down.
Is that him done for? Not yet – if Corbyn wants to just ignore the vote, he can. Labour Party rules don’t compel Jeremy to respect the vote, and it looks like he’s not going to. He just put out a statement saying he’s not budging. After a bit of pre-amble, it reads:
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I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 percent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. Today’s vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy.
We are a democratic party, with a clear constitution. Our people need Labour party members, trade unionists and MPs to unite behind my leadership at a critical time for our country.
Thousands of his biggest fans turned out in Westminster last night to support him, and there, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told them that they were there “to maintain Jeremy as the leader of our movement”. You can read about that here. The unions seem to still be backing him, too, which is significant because they control a lot of Labour’s money.
But obviously, things are not looking great for him. This is another damning piece of news in a week that’s seen more than 40 resignations from Corbyn’s own shadow cabinet. As Britain thrashes around in crisis, the Labour Party seems intent on ignoring the Tories’ civil war and wallowing in their own one.
Here’s that film we made about Jeremy Corbyn:
