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Tuesday 28 June 2016

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn Loses No Confidence Vote By 172 to 40 - But Refuse To Resign

Jeremy Corbyn, seen leaving home today, overwhelmingly lost a vote of no confidence among his MPs today - but he has so far refused to resign
Jeremy Corbyn, pictured in the Palace of Westminster tonight, has refused to quit as Labour leader despite losing an no confidence vote overwhelmingly by 172-40. The embattled Labour leader said he would not 'betray' Labour members who elected him last year. 

The beleaguered Labour leader has faced a near universal revolt among MPs determined to dislodge him and more than 50 MPs quit front bench roles over the past three days. But despite the massive vote against him by Labour MPs tonight, Mr Corbyn is to try and fight on. Reports tonight indicated Angela Eagle (right) was poised to issue a leadership challenge to Mr Corbyn after talks with Deputy Leader Tom Watson.


Earlier this evening Mr Corbyn refused to quit as Labour leader despite losing an no confidence vote overwhelmingly by 172-40, saying he would not 'betray' Labour members who elected him last year.
Mr Corbyn has faced a near universal revolt among MPs determined to dislodge him and more than 50 MPs quit front bench roles over the past three days. The no confidence vote triggered another wave of resignations. 
But despite the massive vote against him by Labour MPs tonight, Mr Corbyn is to try and fight on - insisting his mandate from party members' is more important than MPs' support.
Reports tonight indicated Angela Eagle was poised to issue a leadership challenge to Mr Corbyn after talks with Deputy Leader Tom Watson.
But in a statement issued within minutes of the result, Mr Corbyn rejected the result out of hand.
He said: 'I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. Today’s vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy.
'We are a democratic party, with a clear constitution. Our people need Labour party members, trade unionists and MPs to unite behind my leadership at a critical time for our country.'


There were 13 MPs who did not take part in today's vote - reportedly including Rachael Maskell, a member of the shadow cabinet as of yesterday morning who has declined to express confidence in the leader. 
Mr Corbyn gathered his rag-tag new shadow cabinet today in an attempt to portray unity - but he still has at least seven top tier vacancies and around 30 more junior positions to full.
A Labour spokesman said: 'Following the ballot conducted today, the Parliamentary Labour Party has accepted the following motion: That this PLP has no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party.' 

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