London mayor Sadiq Khan slams Jeremy Corbyn and tells him to go ‘quickly’
Sadiq Khan has savaged Jeremy Corbyn in the aftermath of Labour’s historic election defeat, saying he needs to “quickly” step down as leader.
The Labour mayor of London criticised Corbyn for his role in the party’s landslide defeat, saying much of it had to do with him not being “credible”.
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He also derided an article penned by Corbyn on Sunday, which claimed Labour had “won the argument”, despite not winning the election.
Writing in The i, Khan said: “It is ludicrous to say we won the argument at this election – because we lost.
“No amount of spin can even begin to deflect from the disaster of losing the fourth election in a row following a decade of damaging austerity by the governing party.”
In the aftermath of Thursday’s election – the worst for Labour since 1935 – many of Corbyn’s allies such as Richard Burgon, John McDonnell and Andy McDonald have refused to accept the Labour leader’s unpopularity was a large reason for the defeat.
Instead, they have all trumpeted the line that it was solely Labour’s Brexit position and that Corbyn was a victim of media attacks.
This is despite an Opinium poll released on Friday showing that 43 per cent of people who did not vote Labour said it was because of Corbyn, 17 per cent said it was the party’s Brexit position and 12 per cent said it was the party’s economic policies.
Khan said it was clear that dislike of Corbyn, the party’s radical manifesto and Labour’s inability to deal with antisemitism complaints all played a large part in the defeat.
“If we are truly honest with ourselves, Labour simply did not put forward a credible candidate for prime minister or a believable set of priorities for governing,” he said.
“Some individual policies were extremely popular. But that’s not enough. It’s the overall impression in people’s minds that matters, and whether you can pass some basic questions of leadership.
“Labour’s shocking and repeated failure to tackle anti-Semitism was totally entwined with the failure of leadership.”
The mayor of London added that Corbyn needed to resign immediately, however he gave no indication of who he would support in a future leadership battle.
He said: “Jeremy Corbyn has rightly said he will now stand down, and this should happen quickly, but the changes we have to make as a party do not end with his leadership.”
Corbyn ally Rebecca Long-Bailey is currently the bookmakers’ favourite to win the leadership election, which will begin in January.
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She is considered to be the choice of the controlling left faction, however party moderates have also begun a concerted campaign in an attempt to oust Corbynites from positions of power.
Wigan MP Lisa Nandy has emerged as the most likely moderate to upset Long-Bailey, however popular Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips also appears to be readying herself to enter the race.