Team Corbyn says he’ll carry on if the confidence motion goes against him but it will surely be the start of the end
Labour MPs at Westminster are currently voting on the no confidence motion that was tabled last night. Voting finishes at 4pm and it’s expected that the result will be announced by 5pm.
The assumption is that he’s going to lose and the question will be what happens next. The motion itself is only advisory and Corbyn can just remain if he wants to.
The message from his team is that if his MPs want to oust him then then it will have to go to a new leadership election. That’s what they are saying now but it’s hard to see that being carried through for the next two months at such a critical time in British politics.
Just imagine the fun that Cameron will have at PMQ? How will Labour MPs react? We saw yesterday Corbyn being booed in the Commons by some of his own MPs.
Carrying on in such circumstance is going to be very difficult. In the end this is about perceptions of competence within the party and the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush is saying that this is not what it was. He highlights the recent Vice News which Bush says seems to have caused more damage than anything else.
Update from my Twitter feed
PLP Chair will tell Speaker Corbyn declared unfit to carry on and inform him that @tom_watson is new PLP Leader in time 4 PMQs.
— Dave Collins (@davidiancollins) June 28, 2016