Labour has a duty to oust Corbyn before it’s too late: London mayor

The Labour Party mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called on his party’s members to ditch Jeremy Corbyn and elect his challenger Owen Smith as the new Labour leader, saying Corbyn has been a disaster for the party.

Khan, who secured a resounding victory against a strong Conservative Party for the mayoralty in May, made the remarks in an article for the Observer published on Sunday .

He said the Labour leader must take a large part of the blame for Britain’s forthcoming exit from the European Union (EU), and the party has a duty to oust him before it is too late.

The Labour Party is engulfed in a bitter internal power struggle between Corbyn's supporters in the grassroots membership and the party's lawmakers, who overwhelmingly rejected his leadership after Britain's vote to leave the EU last month. As a result, many of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet members resigned and publicly stated they had no confidence in his leadership.

Corbyn needs to beat former BBC producer Owen Smith in order to keep his post as the opposition leader. He is still the clear favorite to beat his challenger.  

Corbyn has indicated that he could stay on as Labour leader, even if the party suffers a defeat at the next general election. 

Khan called Corbyn a “principled Labour man” whose ideas have brought hope to many people, but he added that Corbyn’s leadership during the past one year has shown he is not up to the job and is not likely to lead the party back to victory in the next election

“Jeremy has already proved that he is unable to organize an effective team and has failed to win the trust and respect of the British people,” Khan wrote, adding, “Jeremy’s personal ratings are the worst of any opposition leader on record and the Labour Party is suffering badly as a result.”

On June 23, some 52 percent of Britons voted in a referendum to leave the EU after 43 years of membership, while roughly 48 voted to stay in the union. 

The results of the referendum prompted David Cameron to step down as prime minister. Corbyn also came under fire for running a lackluster campaign in favor of the Remain movement. His opponents challenged his leadership for what they call inadequate efforts to keep the UK in the EU.

“Throughout the campaign and aftermath, Jeremy failed to show the leadership we desperately needed. His position on EU membership was never clear – and voters didn’t believe him. A third of Labour voters said they did not know where the party stood on the referendum just a week before polling day,” Khan wrote. 

“And you can’t just blame a ‘hostile media’ and let Jeremy and his team off the hook,” he continued. “I know from my own election – up against a nasty and divisive Tory campaign – that if we are strong and clear enough in our convictions, the message will get through to the public. That’s a test that Jeremy totally failed in the EU referendum. Why would things be different in a general election?”

Corbyn’s rival for the Labour leadership, Smith, said he was honored to have Khan’s endorsement.

He praised Khan for running “a fantastic campaign to win power for Labour in London this year” and “securing a huge mandate from party members and the electorate.”
Corbyn and Smith have until September 21 to appeal to voters in order to win their support. The results will be announced in a Liverpool conference three days later.

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