‘For heaven’s sake man, go,’ Cameron tells Labour’s Corbyn

LONDON – British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday told the leader of the main opposition Labour party Jeremy Corbyn, who is now facing a revolt from his own MPs, to step down for the good of the country.

“It might be in my party’s interests for him to sit there, it’s not in the national interests and I would say, for heaven’s sake man, go,” Cameron said to Corbyn at Prime Minister’s Questions in Britain’s parliament.

Labour MPs voted against Corbyn in a no-confidence motion Tuesday by 172 to 40 after dozens of members of his frontbench team stepped down in recent days. But Corbyn has refused to go.

Centrists have criticized the veteran socialist’s leadership for months, but the row came to a head when he was accused of not campaigning enough in Britain’s EU referendum, which delivered a shock “Leave” result last week.

Cameron has said he will step down in the wake of the referendum and will leave office when his successor is chosen in early September.

Corbyn was elected Labour leader last year on a wave of support from grassroots Labour members, but has struggled to build broad support among MPs. The leader, who in the past referred to Hamas and Hezbollah as his “friends” and refused to denounce their terrorist activity, has also denied his party has “an anti-Semitism problem” after a string of resignations by party members in recent months over anti-Jewish and anti-Israel comments.

Marissa Newman contributed to this report.