Shadow chancellor John McDonnell today sought to shore up Jeremy Corbyn as party leader as he unveiled a Labour response to Britain’s Brexit turmoils.
Mr McDonnell laid out five key principles for how to renegotiate a new deal for Britain’s relationship with the EU.
He also sought to allay fears among nationals from other EU countries in Britain, and stressed that Labour would never vote to send them home after the shock Brexit vote, adding: “We’re not that kind of people.”
But he could not shift the spotlight away from the battle over the leadership which is ripping Labour apart.
As more local Labour parties in London joined the moves to oust Mr Corbyn, there were claims he was being hidden from shadow cabinet ministers who wanted to tell him to go.
He attended the ceremony at Thiepval in France today to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, but will return to further attempts to get him to stand down.
He has vowed to stay on despite the mass resignation of scores of frontbenchers in protest at his leadership, and has repeatedly said he will not quit because he won an overwhelming mandate from 60 per cent of Labour members in the 2015 leadership election and stepping down would “betray them”.
But a YouGov poll for The Times suggested that although he might win a leadership contest, his support had fallen away since May. It found 50 per cent of Labour members surveyed would vote for Mr Corbyn but 47 per cent would not — down from the 64 to 33 per cent lead in May.
Former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle, the most senior member of the shadow cabinet to quit, delayed an expected leadership challenge to Mr Corbyn.
She had been expected to declare she would run as a “unity candidate” at a news conference on Thursday afternoon.
The YouGov poll indicated Mr Corbyn would beat Ms Eagle by 50 per cent to 40 per cent.
At Mr McDonnell’s speech on the South Bank, Momentum supporters criticised the media for branding the Corbynistas as “hard Left”’.
But people at the centre of the party were furious with the leadership’s role during the referendum campaign.
Solicitor Laurence Simons, 58, donated money to the Remain campaign and is now trying to gain support for a pro-EU group to make the case to stay in the EU. “There needs to be pressure on MPs to make up their own mind, the Government to ensure there’s a future vote on it and legal arguments to remain,” he said.
Mr McDonnell’s five principles covered the rights of citizens in the UK and abroad, guarantees of employment rights and protecting the City. He said he would “never” stand for Labour leader but would chair Mr Corbyn’s re-election campaign.
