Joining Labour mutiny, London mayor says Corbyn unelectable

In dramatic about-face, Sadiq Khan says head of party showed ineptitude in Brexit vote, backs challenger Owen Smith in leadership contest

By ToI Staff 21 August 2016, 3:59 am
Newly elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan is greeted by well wishers outside City Hall in London, on his first day as mayor, Monday May 9, 2016. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

London Mayor Sadiq Khan added his voice to a chorus of Labour politicians calling for the ouster of party leader Jeremy Corbyn Saturday, pledging his support to challenger Owen Smith.

In a column for the Guardian, Khan said Corbyn failed to ward off Britain’s exit from the European Union and warned that his party would take a beating at the polls in a contest for prime minister.

“By every available measure, if Jeremy remains as leader, Labour is extremely unlikely to win the next general election. The hopes of the members who have joined our party would be dashed again. Jeremy has already proved that he is unable to organise an effective team, and has failed to win the trust and respect of the British people,” Khan wrote.

“Throughout the campaign and aftermath, Jeremy failed to show the leadership we desperately needed. His position on EU membership was never clear – and voters didn’t believe him,” he added.

Britain’s Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn makes a speech at Savoy Place, London, June 25, 2016. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

The mayor did not address the anti-Israel and anti-Semitism scandal that roiled the party earlier this year, with a purge of members found to have made remarks seen as hateful to Jews and/or the Jewish state leading to calls for Corbyn to step down.

Those calls mostly quieted following the election of Khan, the city’s first Muslim mayor, in May 2016, but Corbyn again faced a mass mutiny within his party in June after Britain voted to leave the EU.

Unlike Conservative counterpart David Cameron, who resigned as prime minister following the vote, Corbyn has vowed to stay on, blaming his failure to get out the message on uncooperative party members.

“Jeremy’s personal ratings are the worst of any opposition leader on record – and the Labour party is suffering badly as a result. He has lost the confidence of more than 80% of Labour’s MPs in parliament – and I am afraid we simply cannot afford to go on like this,” Khan wrote.

Khan had until recently been one of the party’s top Corbyn-backers and his dramatic about face will likely give a major boost to Smith’s efforts to take over the party.

British opposition Labour Party leadership contender Owen Smith delivers a speech on the National Health Service at The University of Salford in Salford, north west England, on August 15, 2016. (AFP PHOTO / PAUL ELLIS)

Ballots for the leadership contest are slated to be sent out this week to some 500,000 party members, with results expected to be announced in late September.

Smith said he was “greatly honored” to gain Khan’s endorsement, the Guardian reported.

There was no immediate reaction from Corbyn, who has been challenged, among other things, for expressions of support given to terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

read more: