Labour resignations: Jeremy Corbyn faces another day of crisis as more senior MPs quit shadow cabinet

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Hatty Collier27 June 2016
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The full-scale revolt of Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench continued this morning as more shadow cabinet ministers resigned in protest at his leadership.

Shadow minister for civil society Anna Turley, shadow armed forces minister Toby Perkins and shadow foreign minister Diana Johnson became the first to join the 11 MPs to quit Mr Corbyn's top team on Sunday after the Labour leader fired Hilary Benn for plotting to topple him.

Stephen Kinnock, the son of former leader Lord Kinnock, then quit from his role as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Angela Eagle, alongside Chris Matheson, a PPS on the shadow justice team and Ruth Smeeth, PPS to the Shadow Northern Ireland & Scotland teams.

Shadow business minister Yvonne Fovargue, shadow minister for the natural environment Alex Cunningham and shadow minister for local government Steve Reed later followed with their resignations.

Wayne David quit his frontbench ministerial roles, citing Mr Corbyn’s “lack of enthusiasm” during the Remain campaign in his resignation letter.

Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, quit his role as parliamentary aide to shadow Commons leader Chris Bryant and Jess Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley, resigned as PPS to Lucy Powell, the shadow education secretary.

Shadow Cabinet departures

Nick Thomas-Symonds, shadow Employment minister

Keir Starmer, shadow home office minister

Nia Griffith, shadow Secretary of State for Wales

Maria Eagle, shadow Culture Secretary

Angela Eagle, shadow First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

John Healey, shadow Secretary of State for Housing and Planning

Roberta Blackman-Wood, shadow Housing and Communities and Local Government

Jenny Chapman, shadow Education

Owen Smith, shadow Work and Pensions

Lisa Nandy, shadow Energy Secretary

Wayne David, shadow Cabinet Office, Scotland and Justice

Steve Reed, shadow Local Government 

Alex Cunningham, shadow Natural Environment 

Yvonne Fovargue, shadow Business

Anna Turley, shadow Minister for Civil society

Toby Perkins, shadow Armed Forces Minister

Diana Johnson, shadow Foreign Minister

Chris Bryant, shadow Leader of the House of Commons

Karl Turner, shadow Attorney General

Lord Falconer, shadow Justice Secretary

Vernon Coaker, shadow Northern Ireland Secretary

Seema Malhotra, shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Kerry McCarthy, shadow Secretary of State for the Environment

Lucy Powell, shadow Education Minister

Lilian Greenwood, shadow Transport Secretary

Ian Murray, shadow Scottish Secretary

Gloria De Piero, shadow Minister for Young People and Vote Registration

Heidi Alexander, shadow Secretary for Health

Hilary Benn, shadow Foreign Secretary

Stephen Kinnock, parliamentary private secretary to Angela Eagle

Neil Coyle, parliamentary aide to Chris Bryant

Jess Phillips, parliamentary private secretary to Lucy Powell

Matthew Pennycook, parliament private secretary to John Healey

Karin Smyth, parliamentary private secretary to Heidi Alexander 

Chris Matheson, parliamentary private secretary shadow justice

Ruth Smeeth, parliamentary private secretary shadow Northern Ireland and Scotland teams

Colleen Fletcher, parliamentary private secretary shadow Defra

Lisa Nandy quit her post as shadow energy secretary and Owen Smith resigned from the work and pensions brief as the revolt against Mr Corbyn continued into the afternoon.

Jenny Chapman, Roberta Blackman-Woods, Angela Eagle, John Healey and Nia Griffith also announced their resignations.

The party's leadership in the Lords appeared to back the effort to oust Mr Corbyn, although they will not resign their shadow cabinet seats.

Baroness Smith of Basildon, the Labour leader in the Lords, and Lord Bassam, the chief whip, are both in post because of elections within the ranks of the party's peers rather than being appointed by Mr Corbyn.

A source said that they had taken "soundings" from the party's peers and it was likely they would refuse to attend shadow cabinet meetings while Mr Corbyn remains as leader.

Discussing possible further departures on ITV's Good Morning Britain, shadow leader of the commons Chris Bryant, who also quit yesterday, said: "I think there will be some more members of the shadow cabinet and I think there will be large numbers of the junior ministers as well."

He said reports that up to 30 senior Labour figures may walk in the end "may well be true".

As he resigned on Sunday, Mr Bryant warned Mr Corbyn that he was in danger of going down in history as "the man who broke the Labour Party".

Under-fire Mr Corbyn has pledged to ride out the crisis caused by the mass walk-out of the shadow cabinet as he warned would-be challengers he will not go down without a fight.

Braced for yet more top team resignations, Mr Corbyn insisted he would not "betray" the Labour members who elected him last September.

Mr Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence which will be discussed at the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party at Westminster this evening with a secret ballot of MPs expected the following day.

"I was elected by hundreds of thousands of Labour Party members and supporters with an overwhelming mandate for a different kind of politics,” Mr Corbyn announced in a bid to try and quell the open revolt against him.

"I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me - or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them.

"Those who want to change Labour's leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate.”

The flurry of resignations saw the party's blunt speaking deputy leader Tom Watson insist he would "discuss the way forward" with Mr Corbyn at a face to face meeting after a day of high drama at Westminster saw a third of Labour's top team quit.

Former shadow education secretary Lucy Powell, who also resigned yesterday, insisted it was not a "planned coup" against Mr Corbyn, but instead a reaction to the "seismic" events which have shaken Westminster in recent days - the EU referendum result and David Cameron's resignation.

Ms Powell said: "I don't think it's sufficient to say 'I have the support of the members'. A leader of the Labour Party, a leader of any political party, has to command both the support of the membership as well as the support of the Parliamentary Labour Party."

Chris Bryant was among the first 11 on the shadow cabinet to resign 
REUTERS/Olivia Harris

And prominent backbench MP Mr Kinnock insisted Mr Corbyn would cost the party 60 seats at a possible snap autumn general election.

"I think there's a real risk that if we go into a general election before the end of this year with Jeremy as our leader we will lose somewhere between 30 and 60 trusted and valued colleagues," he told BBC Radio Four's The Westminster Hour.

As the crisis unfolded, Mr Corbyn met shadow chancellor John McDonnell, election co-ordinator Jon Trickett, and strategy director Seamus Milne, to discuss the mass resignations.

A source close to shadow business secretary Angela Eagle, who has not resigned, said: "She is heartbroken about the position in which the party finds itself and desperately worried we're failing to connect with communities across the country."

A series of senior trade unionists on Labour's ruling national executive committee rallied in support of Mr Corbyn - including Unite leader Len McCluskey and Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union.

Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham refused to take part in any attempt to unseat Mr Corbyn.

Mr McDonnell insisted loyalists were ready for a two month leadership battle as he warned would-be opponents that a 200,000 signature petition supporting Mr Corbyn proved how popular he remained with party members who have the ultimate say.

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