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Former Home Secretary David Blunkett has launched a scathing attack on Jeremy Corbyn and the "childish cult" he blames for Labour's election wipeout.

Mr Blunkett, who held three cabinet positions under Tony Blair, has accused Mr Corbyn of betraying the party and allowing himself to be roundly defeated by a Prime Minister who is "universally distrusted, disrespected and ridiculed".

Pulling no punches, Mr Blunkett quoted Oliver Cromwell, telling the current Labour leader: "In the name of God, go!"

Writing in The Daily Mail , he said: "The clique running the Labour Party clearly regarded compromise as betrayal, because it dilutes their ideology.

"But the real betrayal is to have failed to compromise and thus to have achieved nothing."

He said the party leadership had employed the "wrong policies with the wrong tactics", and shown a "total failure" to understand the voters Labour depended on.

(Image: Leon Neal)

And Mr Blunkett, who was Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004, said there was no one else Mr Corbyn could blame.

As a result of the failure, Labour is in a position where it can do "precisely nothing", the 74-year-old wrote, adding that the hopes of millions had been wrecked.

His furious column continued: "The real long-term disaster of Corbyn's election defeat will be the sense of hopelessness and alienation among so many voters, brought about by the absence of any alternative to a Tory Government."

He called on Labour's National Executive Committee to ensure Mr Corbyn and his allies stand down in order to move the party forward.

(Image: ExpressStar)

If Corbynistas hang on, Mr Blunkett wrote, MPs and peers should declare themselves 'the Labour Party' and remove top-down command.

Mr Blunkett dismissed Boris Johnson as an "unpredictable showman", and said Thursday's defeat was "appalling and avoidable".

After Labour suffered its worst defeat in 80 years, Mr Corbyn said he would be standing down, triggering a leadership contest.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Mr Corbyn’s closest political friend, had been expected to step in as a temporary leader if Boris Johnson ’s Tories won a majority - but he ruled it out on election night.

High profile backbencher Jess Phillips was first out the traps in the leadership contest.

In her acceptance speech, she said she was ready to “take a role”.

(Image: WPA Pool)

She made clear she believed her party needed “structural change” and that just “getting rid of one man” would not be enough.

Hours later Emily Thornberry declared “the real fight has to begin now” in an emotional speech on Labour’s election wipeout.

The shadow foreign secretary claimed “we will fight with the same courage my friend Jeremy showed” in what was interpreted as a pitch for leadership.

Yesterday favourite Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, who is also understood to have donors and a campaign team on board, said: “We as a whole movement need to reflect on this result and understand it together, but we also have a duty to rebuild - starting now.”

Senior backbencher Lisa Nandy, who would be one of the candidates to get the backing of Unite, refused to rule out standing for the top job. “To be really honest, I don’t know what I’m going to do next,” she said.