Mr Corbyn’s weak campaign to remain in the EU leaves him scorned by MPs and northern voters alike
Just
as the prime minister, David Cameron, has already announced his resignation as
a result of the referendum vote, many are now questioning whether Jeremy
Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, can survive.
The
Labour leadership was in favour of remaining in the EU, yet the vote was lost
in the Labour heartlands of the Midlands and north of England. In the
north-east, a strong Labour area, the Remain vote was much weaker than
expected. Many furious Labour politicians blame this squarely on Mr Corbyn.
“Jeremy Corbyn has got to take responsibility,” said Angela Smith, a former
shadow minister. “He should consider his position. He’s shown insufficient
leadership.” Two Labour MPs, Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey, have sent a letter
to John Cryer, chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), submitting a
motion of no confidence in Mr Corbyn to be discussed at the next meeting of the
PLP on June 27th. If Mr Cryer allows this motion to be debated, it could be
followed by a secret ballot of Labour MPs the following day. This would be a
strong expression of the lack of confidence in Mr Corbyn, even if it has no
constitutional force to unseat him.
Labour
critics accuse their leader of being at best half-committed to the cause, of
doing much too little much too late, and of ignoring the main issue of concern
to traditional Labour voters: immigration. The former Labour cabinet minister
Lord Peter Mandelson put the boot into Mr Corbyn, telling an interviewer that
he had been “travelling through the referendum with the handbrake on” and that
he had failed to support his senior colleagues on the campaign trail.
Furthermore, argued Lord Mandelson, his palpable failings during the referendum
campaign were evidence of a more profound inability to “project his message”.
Perhaps Mr Corbyn doesn’t have what it takes, he mused.
Lord
Mandelson’s comments will be dismissed by Mr Corbyn’s supporters as just more
grousing from the right wing of the party. But they reflect a wider anger and
frustration with Mr Corbyn’s leadership. “Jeremy hasn’t pulled his weight”,
said one Labour MP. “The EU referendum simply shone a light on how utterly out
of touch Corbyn and [John] McDonnell [the shadow chancellor] are with so many
traditional Labour voters outside of London.” Another MP said: “Even people who
supported him have seen he is not up to it. He can’t motivate Labour voters,
let alone persuade anyone else.” Labour MPs were amazed that a sheet of “talking
points” prepared for them by head office on how to respond to the defeat asked
them to claim that Corbyn had “led from the front” during the campaign, and
that he was now “far closer to the centre of gravity of the British public than
other politicians.”
Scorn
from his backbenchers is not sufficient to displace Mr Corbyn. His position as
Labour leader has always rested on his popularity among the party’s paid-up
supporters rather than its MPs. The left-winger was elected in 2015 with an
overwhelming mandate, winning 59.5% of the vote of party members and affiliated
supporters. They may yet stand by their man.
All
that would prove, however, is how far out of touch the activists are with
Labour voters, especially in the north of England. This was a point made by
John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw in the east Midlands, one of the few Labour MPs
who campaigned for a Brexit. “Labour has gone wrong,” he said immediately after
the result, “by not being in touch with the voters.” Mr Mann’s critique must be
particularly worrying for Mr Corbyn, as it comes not from his old foes on the
right of the party, like the Blairite Lord Mandelson, but from the trade-union
core. People like Mr Mann view Mr Corbyn’s brand of urban, cosmopolitan
left-wing protest politics as thoroughly divorced from the Labour heartlands.
The referendum has merely confirmed their worst fears.
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