Jeremy Corbyn has become increasingly isolated as senior Labour figures defied him and called for Labour to back a second referendum on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
Allies of John McDonnell have put pressure on Mr Corbyn to move the party to an unambiguously pro-Remain stance.
Rebecca Long Bailey, the shadow business secretary and a key McDonnell ally, openly contradicted the Labour leader yesterday and questioned how long he should remain in power. She told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One that she could back a second confirmatory referendum on a Johnson deal shortly after Mr Corbyn appeared to reject the plan.
“I think the only option that we’ve got now is to let the people decide,” she said. “I know that many colleagues are of a similar opinion to me . . . if we’re faced with a deal that’s passed through the Commons by an unelected Tory prime minister that could potentially be damaging for our economy.”
Asked if she would support attaching a referendum to any deal Mr Johnson struck she replied: “Yes.”
Jon Trickett, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, underlined Labour divisions by repeating on Today on BBC Radio 4 that there should be an election before a referendum offering a choice between a Labour deal and a “reformed” EU.
Earlier on Sky News Mr Corbyn had rejected that as an option. “I think many in parliament, not necessarily Labour MPs, others, might be more inclined to support it [a deal with a referendum attached] even if they don’t really agree with the deal,” he said. “I would caution them on this.”
Ms Long Bailey’s comments infuriated one shadow cabinet supporter of Mr Corbyn who said that she had damaged her chances of succeeding him. “I was surprised and disappointed at her performance and she hasn’t helped her cause at all,” the MP said. “Rebecca is close to John and what is clear is that he’s now flexing his muscles to show that he is the one calling the shots.
“I genuinely feel that he [Mr McDonnell] is abandoning everything we have stood for the last three or four years to try and make us acceptable to the establishment and win power. But I think it will go down very badly with our voters — especially those who supported Brexit.”
Party sources said that Mr Corbyn had become increasingly isolated since the departure of his chief of staff, Karie Murphy, and other key aides.
One said that Mr McDonnell now had the support of a majority in the shadow cabinet who had become alarmed at the hardline Brexit stance of Ms Murphy and Mr Corbyn’s communications director, Seumas Milne.
They were blamed for the damaging Brexit row that dominated the Labour conference in Brighton and the failed putsch against Mr Corbyn’s deputy, Tom Watson.
The Sunday Times said that Mr McDonnell had put himself in charge of day-to-day Labour operations and drawn up a list of appointments that he wanted in the leader’s office.
“McDonnell is now basically the leader of the Labour Party,” one insider said. “It’s a silent coup. He’s getting his own people in, isolating and picking off the old guard around Corbyn.”
Mr McDonnell has also been blamed for adding to speculation about Mr Corbyn’s future by openly talking about who might succeed him. In an interview with GQ magazine last week, he said that the next Labour leader should be a woman, citing Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, as an example.
In his interview with Sky News Mr Corbyn refused to disclose whether he would step down if Labour lost a general election.
Ms Long Bailey, when asked about Mr Corbyn’s future as leader, said that it would be “right” for him to step aside. “That is convention within the party, that’s usually what happens,” she said.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, told Mr Corbyn not to “bother picking up the phone” to ask the SNP to put him in government unless he was ready to back a new vote on Scottish independence. She said that she was in favour of removing Mr Johnson from office and holding an election but her backing for a future “progressive alliance” government relied on a deal to hold a referendum.
Ms Sturgeon said that she would seek British government consent this year to hold a new vote on independence. “We would favour a progressive-type alliance, but I would say this to Jeremy Corbyn or any Westminster leader who’s looking to the SNP for support — if you don’t accept Scotland’s right to choose our own future, at the time of our own choosing, don’t even bother picking up the phone to me.”
She told Today that the SNP was trying to bring the opposition together behind a vote of no confidence in the government and it was “regrettable” that Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson had not offered their support.
She cast doubt on the idea of a referendum before a general election, saying that she had “practical questions” about leaving a caretaker government in place for long enough to hold such a vote.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/jeremy-corbyn-isolated-as-shadow-team-defy-him-over-new-brexit-vote-g06jrvtrd
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