London: Britain’s two main parties were in open conflict on Sunday after a vote to leave the European Union (EU) triggered an attempted “coup” in the main opposition Labour Party and a bitter leadership contest in the ruling Conservatives.
Both parties are reeling from the referendum result, when British voters rejected the arguments of their leaders and decided to leave the EU in a vote which underscored the deep divisions in the country.
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will resign — prompting a fierce battle to replace him — and six Labour lawmakers quit the party’s top policy team to try to force their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, from office, after the sacking of foreign affairs policy chief Hilary Benn.
Benn was fired overnight because, as his spokesman said on Sunday, “he has lost confidence in him”.
Benn told Corbyn he had lost confidence in his ability to lead the party. “There is no confidence that we will be able to win a general election as long as Jeremy remains the leader,” Benn told the BBC’s flagship breakfast show.
There is widespread anger among Labour MPs.
Many of them have been critical of the veteran socialist leader since his election last September, saying he did not fight hard enough for Britain to stay in the EU.
The shock decision by the country to vote to leave the bloc, throwing the 28-member alliance into turmoil by becoming the first country ever to leave, was against the wishes of most Labour lawmakers.
The outcome of the vote has triggered a slump in the value of sterling and UK stocks and unleashed a fast-moving political and constitutional crisis.
Two Labour MPs tabled a vote of no confidence in Corbyn on Friday, which is expected to be discussed at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Monday.
But Corbyn gave a speech on Saturday indicating he was going nowhere and a spokesman on Sunday insisted he has no intention of resigning.
“Jeremy Corbyn is the democratically elected leader of the Labour Party and will remain so,” the spokesman said. Some party members say he failed to assuage concern among the party’s traditional supporters; others that he should have campaigned more in favour of EU membership.
Benn challenged Corbyn over his leadership, saying many lawmakers in the party had “no confidence in our ability to win the next election, which may come much sooner than expected”.
Six other members of Corbyn’s ‘shadow cabinet’ — top policy chiefs who hold portfolios mirroring those of the government — resigned in protest at his leadership and others were set to follow.
But Corbyn, who was elected last year on a wave of enthusiasm for change among thousands of new, young Labour members, was “not going anywhere”, said his finance spokesman, John McDonnell.
“I know how disappointed people are about the loss of the European referendum, but now is the time we hold together.”
It fell to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to describe events as “a vacuum of leadership”.
“I think what’s happening at Westminster is shameful,” she told the BBC. She also suggested the Brexit vote could see the departure of Scotland, which voted to remain in the EU, in a second independence referendum that could lead to the collapse of the UK.
Cameron has said he will stay on in his post until October to try to help reassure the public and markets, but his decision to announce his resignation immediately after the vote has unsettled those who campaigned to leave the EU.
They say they will wait until a new Euro-sceptic leader is in place before triggering the process to leave the bloc as leading Conservatives jockey to take the mantle.
Former London mayor Boris Johnson, whose support for the leave camp galvanised the Leave campaign, is a favourite to replace Cameron, but media have reported that there is a group of pro-Cameron lawmakers looking for “anyone but Boris”.
Foreign Minister Philip Hammond ruled himself out of the contest, but said: “It’s got to be somebody who can unite the Conservative Party ... but it’s also got to be somebody with a credible strategy that we’ve now created for ourselves, dealing with the challenge of negotiating an exit from the European Union without destroying our prosperity in the process.”
