What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

It’s been a week of midsummer madness for Labour .

It saw 172 MPs call on Corbyn to go, members calling for those MPs to be deselected, and Jeremy still as leader.

In last week’s column, I urged MPs not to bring Tuesday’s no-confidence vote in Corbyn.

Yes, we’d lost the EU referendum , which led Cameron to quit as PM.

And there are questions to ask about Labour’s Remain campaign and Jeremy’s commitment to it.

But to rush to judgment and try to force Corbyn out within days of the loss was crazy. But no one listened.

Hilary Benn told Jeremy in a phone call in the early hours of Sunday morning that he’d lost confidence. Corbyn, not unfairly, sacked him.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Then every hour on the hour, Shadow Cabinet members resigned. But Jeremy wouldn’t budge. Other frontbenchers left, tweeting their letters of resignation.

Former Labour leaders joined in to say Jeremy’s position was untenable.

Then Angela Eagle ’s team repeatedly said she would run. Then she didn’t. The Eagle is stranded.

It seems Hilary Benn was the Grand Old Duke of York. He marched 172 Labour MPs who’d signed that no-confidence motion in Jeremy to the top of the hill.

(Image: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)

And there they stay, with the dawning realisation the only way is back down to an angry membership.

Like him or not, Corbyn is hugely popular with Labour Party members. More people voted for him than Blair or Miliband.

Under Corbyn our membership rocketed, young people got involved and there was a buzz about Labour again.

In the last week more than 60,000 people have joined our party – the fastest membership rise in our history.

I have no regrets encouraging MPs to nominate Corbyn to get on that leadership ballot, because members needed a wide choice.

I said to Jeremy’s face that I never felt he was a leader and didn’t vote for him. I still feel the same.

(Image: Getty Images)

But he has a mandate and needs more time to prove himself or stand down in his own time.

Right from the start of Jeremy’s leadership, a small group of Labour MPs constantly sought to destabilise him.

I called them Bitterites. In this column – and outside it too – I told them to stop complaining and give him a chance.

Then the majority of Labour MPs seemed to panic after the Brexit vote, thinking there would be a snap election in October with Boris as PM.

If they’d waited seven days as I suggested, they’d have seen just how long a week in politics actually is.

Boris’s political career is dead and the new favourite, Theresa May , says she’ll serve until 2020.

(Image: Getty)

So we end this week with Jeremy in place, party members threatening to deselect the MPs who rebelled and Corbyn unable to fill his shadow ministerial team.

I was asked by many people to come out and call for Jeremy to go. I declined.

Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t want to see civil war in the party I love. I lived through the Gang of Four and the SDP. It kept the Tories in power for 18 long years.

So there’s no way I’d back a Gang of 172 and a possible independent Parliamentary Labour Party.

The challenge for Labour now is to unite and get back to power ASAP.

But that means change on ALL sides. Jeremy’s team said they’d prefer to build a “social uprising” rather than an alternative government.

(Image: Getty Images)

Wrong. It’s for the Official Opposition to be the Government in waiting.

It’s more important for us to carry responsibility than placards and banners.

However, like a football manager who has lost the confidence of his players but is still backed by the fans, Jeremy needs to work hard to win the trust of everyone.

The MPs who signed the no-confidence motion must put this mad week behind us, show unity and NOT force a leadership election.

And ­Jeremy’s supporters must end any talk of revenge deselections of the rebels.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Now more than ever Labour must be united so we can make the case for Britain’s continuing role in Europe and stand up for those who will be hit hard by further austerity cuts caused by Brexit.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has started to do that, which is good.

So my advice to everyone in Labour is calm down, go on holiday and let’s come back refreshed to take on the new Tory PM in September.

This was the week Labour literally lost the plot. Now let’s come together and go after the REAL enemy – this dire Tory Government.