Today's Independent has the extraordinary story that Labour MPs are plotting to mount a coup against Jeremy Corbyn before Christmas, if he wins the leadership in September. And they have not even issued the ballot papers yet.
The paper says that the MP for Islington North has staged a stunning raid on
support among constituency labour party organisations in the past
week, prompting panic among supporters of the three mainstream
candidates, Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall:
Two internal
polls also suggested a surge in support for Mr Corbyn, with one even
suggesting he could win on 12 September.
Although this result is
still seen as a long shot, MPs said in the event of a Corbyn victory
they would immediately start gathering the 47 names needed to trigger a
coup. One said: “We cannot just allow our party, a credible party of
government, to be hijacked in this summer of madness. There would be no
problem in getting names. We could do this before Christmas.”
Another
Labour MP said a Corbyn victory would cause deep unhappiness among the
current shadow cabinet, and suggested that few would want to serve under
him.
Of course a coup of this sort could just see Corbyn re-elected in a fresh ballot. But things must be bad in the Labour Party if they are contemplating this before the result.
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