British election: Jeremy Corbyn blames Brexit divisions for wipeout

Jeremy Corbyn will quit as British Labour leader following the party’s disastrous polling in the general election.

Opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in north Londonafter the party suffered its worst electoral performance since before World War II.

Jeremy Corbyn will quit as British Labour leader following the party’s disastrous polling in the general election.

But the polarising leader said he would not leave his post before a “process of reflection”.

“I want to make it clear that I will not lead the Labour Party in any future election campaign,’’ Mr Corbyn said after he was declared winner of his London seat of ­Islington North.

But he said he would “lead the party to ensure that discussion takes place”.

“This is obviously a very disappointing night for the Labour Party with the result we have got. But I want to say this: in the election campaign we put forward a manifesto for hope, a manifesto of unity and a manifesto that would help to right the wrongs of injustice and equality that exist in this country.

Corbyn leaves Islington Town Hall after an interview about the results of the General Election.

“All of those policies were ­extremely popular during the election campaign and remain policies that have huge support across the country.

“However, Brexit has so polarised and divided debate in this country it has overridden so much of normal debate. I recognise that that has contributed to the result the Labour Party has received this evening all across this country.”

To his supporters, the 70-year-old offered a chance to deliver a radical leftist agenda, shaking up the economy and reversing a decade of Conservative public spending cuts.

But the wider public failed to warm to him, a situation made worse by his refusal to take a position on Brexit and accusations of anti-Semitism and sympathising with terrorists.

Mr Corbyn had faced a clamour to stand down, with a series of defeated and re-elected MPs telling him to go.

GRAPHIC: Overview of the UK election results

After an exit poll that indicated a Conservative Party landslide, an ashen-faced John McDonnell, his closest political ally, refused to rule out Mr Corbyn’s resignation.

Jess Phillips, a potential candidate for leader, said it was “impossible to say anything other than” that Mr Corbyn should quit.

“The country is making a clear statement about how it feels about the Labour Party,” she told Sky News.

Ruth Smeeth, the parliamentary chairwoman of the Jewish Labour Movement, lost Stoke-on-Trent North. She blamed the leader personally for “this result for my constituents and swaths of the country tonight”.

“Jeremy Corbyn’s actions on anti-Semitism have made us the nasty party. We are the racist party.”

Phil Wilson, who lost Tony Blair’s former seat of Sedgefield, said: “For the leadership to blame Brexit for the result is mendacious nonsense.”

Mr McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, had argued that Mr Corbyn was not the reason Labour’s result was its worst since 1935. “Brexit has dominated this election”, he said. Despite recent rumours that he would become acting leader if Labour lost, he ruled this out.

Mr Corbyn went into this election as the most unpopular opposition leader to have contested a British vote. He caused some trouble for Boris Johnson by claiming he was plotting to sell off the National Health Service in a “toxic” post-Brexit trade deal with US President Donald Trump.

His warnings of the impact of years of austerity also helped shift the debate, with the Conservatives promising more money for public services.

But with Brexit, he was accused of an absence of leadership on one of the biggest issues of the day.

There had already been a rebellion over his leadership after the June 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU, over his lacklustre performance in Labour’s official campaign to stay in.

A lifelong Eurosceptic, he later agreed to Labour’s policy to call for a second referendum, but said he would stay neutral.

Jon Lansman, the founder of the pro-Corbyn activist group Momentum, had appeared to accept that Mr Corbyn would stand down. “Jeremy has always been a reluctant leader,” he said. “He won’t overstay his welcome.”

Mr Lansman said Mr Corbyn had “achieved a great deal” on issues such as austerity, and that the election was “incredibly polarised because of Brexit”.

“Maybe the manifesto was too long and too detailed — it’s a program actually not for a government, but for 10 years,” he told ITV.

When the 10pm exit poll showed Labour on 191 seats, 71 fewer than in 2017, there was ­almost 10 minutes of silence at ­Labour headquarters.

At midnight one official said: “Atmosphere is beyond grim and nobody senior has seen fit to even say anything to the staff who gave so much.”

The Times, AFP