Then came Mr Corbyn’s second meeting of the day, which proved, perhaps predictably, to be disastrous. His five soft-left shadow ministers, Lisa Nandy, Owen Smith, Nia Griffiths, Kate Green and John Healey had asked to see him with the intention of telling him they were going to support him, subject to certain assurances.
They were aghast when John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, “barged in” and hijacked the meeting, “lecturing” the MPs and vowing to fight on.
They wanted to ask Mr Corbyn how he would bring the party back together, but Mr McDonnell told them those who had resigned would be punished rather than brought back into the fold. The bunker mentality appalled them.
“They got a lecture from John McDonnell with Corbyn doing his best woodwork teacher impression,” a Labour source told The Telegraph.
“They came out and thought ‘Oh my God. Your plan is to carry on and change nothing?’. They had a chat and agreed to resign’.”
All five later quit, removing one of Mr Corbyn’s last support bases within the shadow cabinet.
Is this some Downfall problem, where they simply don’t understand? Or is McDonnell playing a blinder which gets him into the Leader’s office?
Read on Guido comments that all the resigned/sacked voted for Iraq war. Maybe it is Chilcot-related after all?
This was planned weeks ago, as was disclosed in the Telegraph on 13th June, well before Corbyn ‘lost the referendum’.
Labour rebels believe they can topple Jeremy Corbyn after the EU referendum in a 24-hour blitz…
“It is not going to be a date in the calendar, it will be on the back of a media firestorm. It could happen within 24 hours,” said one Labour MP.
Asked how the coup could take place, another said: “Things go wrong, people have had enough, you start to see resignations and it spirals from there.”
A third Labour MP who served in the shadow cabinet said: “There is undoubtedly a frustration and a simmering anger. After the referendum there is going to be an immense number of lessons to learn and decisions to make. It is likely to be a pang of frustration that makes one colleague say ‘enough and enough’ and just resign. If one person did it and said to others ‘how about it’, things are desperate enough that it will happen.”
That’s why Corbyn’s staying in there; the PLP can’t get him out unless he resigns, given that Corbyn’s popularity with the rank and file is unassailable.
Witchy,
We don’t know how popular he still is with the rank & file. Last year yes he was wildly popular; but a lot has happened since then.
WP,
Yeah. This is not going to go at all how the rebels think. It’s going to take an election defeat and even then, he might hang on.
There’s a petition of confidence in his leadership that garnered over 200,000 signatures in two days. He summoned 10,000 people to Parliament Square yesterday evening with less than 24hrs notice. He retains the confidence of both the rank and file and the unions; some of those MPs are going to be out of a job before he is.
Looks like the Bliarites are going to have to do an SDP and form a new party if they ever want to see power again.
Or switch to the Lib Dems. LOL.
10 000? No chance. 2500 – 3000 tops.
And gathering a few thousand crusties and trots does not a leader make.
A demonstration of Labour supporters in Parliament Square. Who, for some reason, all seemed to be waving SWP or similar posters…
Either way it’s bloody hilarious.
If Corbyn is forced into a re-election campaign then I will simply vote for him again, or if he is not allowed on the ballot then presumably I’ll be voting for McDonnell.
The key thing is to make sure that whoever is elected leader of the Labour party represents the left-wing Momentum view and the wider constituency Labour parties.
That way they’ll never win a bloody election again before Labour is dissolved as a political party, sometime in the 2020’s.
I wonder how many Corbyn supporters believe the Brexit vote should be ignored?
Ignore the popular vote for Brexit, let MPs decide.
Ignore MPs over Corbyn, let the popular vote decide.
There’s a petition of confidence in his leadership that garnered over 200,000 signatures in two days.
How many of the signatures came from Vatican City and DRNK?
Not me Rob.
O/T Did anybody see this marvellous quote from Martin Schulz, President Of The European Parliament?
“The British have violated the rules. It is not the EU philosophy that the crowd can decide its fate”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-27/president-european-parliament-it-not-eu-philosophy-crowd-can-decide-its-fate
Corbyn and McDonnell aren’t going anywhere without an industrial digger digging them out.
The Blairites could always form a new party with Anna Soubry and the other Cameroons who threw their toys out of the pram at the referendum result. Cameron could fight Tony Blair for the leadership.
“Did anybody see this marvellous quote from Martin Schulz, President Of The European Parliament?”
The gift that keeps on giving.
After the Referendum of the 23rd June
The President of the European Parliament
Wrote a comment on Twitter
Stating that the British people
Had violated the Rules
And could redeem themselves only
By accepting that they could not decide their fate.
Would it not be easier in that case
For the Commission to eject the United Kingdom
And find some people who would do what they’re told?
FIN
apologies to B. Brecht.