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CRITICS of Jeremy Corbyn were told yesterday to “put up or shut up” yesterday as they attempted to spin election results into a crisis for the Labour leader.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow communities secretary Jon Trickett publicly challenged right-wing Labour MPs to either call a leadership election or get behind Mr Corbyn.
“I think most Labour Party members are saying look, you’re damaging our campaign by the continuous carping,” Mr McDonnell told the BBC. “It’s time to put up or shut up.”
It came after a mixed bag of election results that saw Labour on course to win its first London mayoral election in a decade and retain power in Wales — but slump to third place in Scotland.
In England, Labour defied expectations that it would lose up to 150 councillors from the high point achieved under Ed Miliband’s leadership in 2012, containing losses to dozens.
Across Britain Labour were on course to claim 31 per cent of votes with the Tories on 30 per cent, according to the BBC.
Mr Corbyn was in defiant mood as he addressed supporters, saying: “All across England last night we were getting predictions that Labour was going to lose councils — we didn’t, we hung on and we grew support in a lot of places.”
Right-wing Labour MPs were poised to call for Mr Corbyn’s resignation in the result of a collapse in council seats, but in the event only veteran David Winnick claimed yesterday’s results required a change of leadership.
A series of right-wing MPs did though tour the TV studios to warn the party is not on course to win the next election under Mr Corbyn.
Mr Trickett, who led Labour’s local election campaign, said the party is making “steady progress” towards that goal.
And he said: “I say to my friends and colleagues: it’s time to move on from last year’s leadership election.
“Let’s move forward in unity to make sure we can get rid of this awful government whenever the general election comes.
“If there are some people who want to keep contesting the leadership election of last year then really it’s time for them to either put up or shut up.”
Deputy leader Tom Watson said members across the country want MPs to respect Mr Corbyn’s mandate.
“So, ‘patience,’ is what I would say to those colleagues who are coming out with intemperate remarks,” he added.
