Corbyn still hanging in there

[NightWanderer]

I actually quite admire that. Hanging tough. I think it shows a sharp contrast to Cameron who can't get out of things soon enough.

Could Corbyn actually be the next PM?

[BungoWomble]

Started to put the lie to this crap about elitist inequality ("austerity") being necessary and starting the search for a new more balanced economy? www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36351149

If Labour go back to Tory-lite and we lose the only chance of a real alternative then Britain will be in socioeconomic meltdown before we get to 2018. I guarantee it.

[GrumpyOldBag]

Corbyn should go. he's delusional about having the support of the people. he's stifling the left and Labour.
I was a Labour member for 10 years but could never support the party while he is in charge.
I want to get the Tories out. No chance of that while Corbyn is labour leader.

[TheBathroomSink]

GraceGrape - I'm in a Labour stronghold, this place would likely elect a donkey if it appeared under a Labour banner. The current MP was parachuted in and is widely detested, but would win again, unless Ukip can find a palatable candidate, which is unlikely. This constituency has never returned anything other than Labour.

He has support from lots of older men, mostly, who remember the Labour party of the 60s/70s and unions who worked for their members.

[GrumpyOldBag]

he lost the vote 172 to 40 FFS!

In any sort of meritocracy that performance would not be tolerated. he's as out of touch with reality as the Russian communist party was.

If he wants to prove he's still got the support of most of Labour members - which I very much doubt - then he should call a leadership election and stand again. Or fuck off to the Socialst Workers Party who he seems to have more in common with.

[PigletWasPoohsFriend]

This might already have been said, but wouldn't the best thing be for him to stand again as a candidate in a new leadership election? If he won again, the Labour Party would have to put it to bed and get behind him.

If he wins again the party will split.

Even CLP and councils are coming forward now saying they have no confidence in him.

[merrymouse]

Labour can't win an election based on the labour heartlands. They have to persuade people who have previously voted conservative/lib-dem to change their vote, however much Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters might think of them as 'tory scum'.

[GraceGrape]

Thanks Bathroom - useful to know sounds just like the Tories here.

[Mrscog]

As an outsider to the Labour party I just cannot understand you all. You had a gift of a leadership candidate in Liz Kendall, she would have delivered you the Swindon's, Worcester's etc.

I am a swing voter and she was the obvious choice to win - but I'm not hindered with principals etc. to think about, but principals alone don't win elections.

I hope she stands again, I really liked her, and would have definitely voted for her. I could never vote for Jeremy Corbyn or Andy Burnham. They just lack vision and charisma.

[Mrscog]

And again as a complete outside swing voter, they way JC is clinging on to power through some principal of the labour membership is very uneddifying to outsiders. We were discussing this at work, all of us managers, who said our teams had a resignation rate of his due to our lack of leadership we'd expect to be subject to performance review at the very least!

[ManonLescaut]

I like Andy but Corbyn is a nutcase.

But I've disagreed with Labour strategy since they refused to ditch Brown before the 2010 election. If they'd replaced him they'd have done better.

Then, having fucked that up, they proceeded to elect Ed as leader, and refused to ditch him before the 2015 election.

And then Corbyn.

I don't think this disintegration was necessary, with better direction it could have been avoided.

What they need is a cabal of good, strong people working together.

The country needs them to pull themselves together now, more than ever.

[wowfudge]

I was wrong about him standing down now. He has a stubborn streak and no commonsense.

[EnthusiasmDisturbed]

So it was ok to lie his way through the referendum but being a man of principle he can't let down those the party members that voted for him even though he can't win over voters

Right makes sense now

[Huldra]

TheNaze I am one of those voters. I'm a Lib Dem at heart but vote Labour sometimes tactically, never ever Tory. I also voted remain.

Musing today I wondered what I would do if it were a choice between JC for Labour and a Tory (not Boris) who went for negotiating staying in the common market & accepting free movement etc. I could well go Tory!!!!

I don't think JC would do a good job of negotiating with the EU and I suspect he may go for completely out out. It's not just JC but any other Leave Labour Politian who would consider severing ties with the common market.

I think JC has been an interesting leader and he's had my sympathy in the past, like when he was criticised for not singing the national anthem. He should go quickly tho or an early election will be won by the Tories. God help us if Boris is up for the Conservative and JC for Labour.

[TheBathroomSink]

Can you imagine a TV election debate with Corbyn and Boris Johnson? Johnson is a mendacious arse, but he would run rings around him.

Although Corbyn would probably refuse to take part and go to some student rally with bullhorns instead.

[StatisticallyChallenged]

He really needs to stand down now. It doesn't really matter that he's popular with party members - he's utterly unelectable. The MPs know that - they know that they (and him as leader) need a lot more than party members to be elected.

How can you lead a party, and potentially a country, if your own MPs have no faith in you.

[GrumpyOldBag]

Corbyn fundamentally misunderstands the nature of leadership.

Leaders make decisions in the best interests of the people they represent.

The best interests of labour supporters must be either to win the next election or to be an effective opposition.

Under Corbyn they are neither.

Doggedly hanging onto power because a year ago you were elected by a large majority of party members (and ignoring the seismic changes that have happened since then) isn't in anyone's best interests, apart perhaps Corbyn's.

Corbin should ask himself, what would a true leader do? One who put Labour values first ... stood up for ordinary working people. He would give them a voice and give them power. Under Corbyn they don't have that.

[TheDevilMadeMeDoIt]

I love the irony!

The referendum (bear with me....) wasn't supposed to be in favour of leave. That it was was due in no small part to protest votes. Now because Remain didn't win, the Labour MPs are turning on Corbyn.

But during the leadership contest, he wasn't even going to stand. Others pushed him into it to be the grit in the contest's debate that make things livelier and eventually would produce the pearl who was to be the next leader. He got in because of a protest vote against Blair and Brown, he wasn't supposed to win. Now the party who elected him in protest against the previous incumbents are making him the scapegoat for a protest vote in the referendum.

What goes around comes around.

[Rainbunny]

My perspective is that we are facing an increasingly certain general election and whichever government emerges from that will the government that likely has to negotiate our exit from the EU (unless the Lib Dems win a clear majority and then I guess we're staying in the EU!). JC has been in his leadership role for about a year and he hasn't come out with any solid policy proposals and frankly I lack faith in his ability to lead a government through long and tricky EU negotiations.

[blaeberry]

The people Corbyn represents are not the labour supporters but all of his constituents, regardless of their vote, and as labour leader, the best interest of the whole country. It is to be expected that his views of the best interest of the country would differ from the Conservatives but he is still representing the country not just labour supporters.

Why, in that rally to support him last night, we're so many 'labour party' supporters waving 'socialist worker party' banners?

[MangosteenSoda]

I thought he would be a breath of fresh air. I didn't think he would become PM, but I thought he might usher in a new era of more principled politics.

But the whole scene has shifted. Rightly or wrongly he is in an untenable position so he needs to go. Being a party leader means you need to be able to present yourself in a statesmanlike way and convey a strong message to the electorate. You need the confidence of the party. He has lost his credibility and he needs to go.

[Valentine2]

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/119416

if you hate lying politicians, sign this pls.

[merrymouse]

Why, in that rally to support him last night, we're so many 'labour party' supporters waving 'socialist worker party' banners?

He doesn't have to win their votes. He has to win the votes of conservative voters.

The conservatives have a majority. To win the next election he has to turn conservatives into labour voters, and, unlike previous elections where labour has won, that has to be without Scotland.
(No other party can replace the SNP at Westminster unless Scotland turns decisively against independence).

He has to convince people from the centre, not the left to win an election and that could be soon.

[OddBoots]

I wondered why the Labour party would choose now to implode. Then I realised the Chilcot report is due soon and that Corbyn is one of the few Labour MPs would be honest about dealing with it.