The Labour Party is in all-out civil war

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has refused to step down despite losing 11 members of his shadow cabinet.

He said he would not ‘betray the trust’ of those who elected him.

Mr Corbyn said he would ‘reshape’ the shadow cabinet over the next 24 hours and warned: ‘Those who want to change Labour’s leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate.’

‘I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me – or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them.’


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The crisis was triggered after Hilary Benn told Corbyn he had no confidence in him and was fired overnight.

Ten MPs followed him out the door in quick succession, including shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer and shadow leader of the Commons Chris Bryant.

Deputy leader Tom Watson left Glastonbury Festival early to respond, but did not offer Corbyn a ringing endorsement.

He said he would hold emergency talks with him on Monday morning to ‘discuss the way forward’.

Shadow Attorney General Karl Turner becomes the tenth shadow cabinet member to resign #Corbyn #Labourcoup pic.twitter.com/Jm1NegIK1z — Matthew Smith (@mattsmithetc) June 26, 2016

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In a statement, Mr Watson said he was ‘saddened’ so many colleagues felt unable to carry on and ‘deeply disappointed’ at the sacking overnight of shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn which triggered the walkout.

He said: ‘My single focus is to hold the Labour Party together in very turbulent times. The nation needs an effective opposition, particularly as the current leadership of the country is so lamentable.

‘It’s very clear to me that we are heading for an early general election and the Labour Party must be ready to form a government. There’s much work to do.’