Coup on against Corbyn

The Guardian reports:

More than half of the Labour shadow cabinet is expected to stand down on Sunday in a major coup against Jeremy Corbyn, triggered by the result of the EU referendum and the leader’s decision to sack Hilary Benn.

Loyal members of shadow cabinet told the Guardian they were writing their resignation letters after Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary, stepped down on Sunday morning.

A Labour source said Alexander’s decision to resign in the wake of Benn’s dismissal would prove hugely significant, because unlike the shadow foreign secretary she was a more “loyal and pragmatic” member of the Corbyn team.

“She is seen as a moderate, practical and pragmatic voice,” they said. “Hilary always had a problem with Jeremy. Now that Heidi’s gone, most of the shadow cabinet will step down. He can’t just replace those positions because other frontbench ministers won’t step up to the roles.”

Corbyn has so little support in his caucus that his replacement shadow cabinet members will have to be what are known as the D team.

Leaked internal Labour party polling of people who voted for Labour in 2015 reveals that nearly a third (29%) would support a different party if a general election was held today.

It shows that just 71% of those who voted for Ed Miliband’s party in May last year say they would vote Labour now, and this drops further – to 67% – among working and lower middle-class C2DE voters.

A Labour source said: “MPs and members were worried about their prospects at the next election under Corbyn, but thought they had four years to turn things around. Now many fear they may have just four months if a snap election is called, so know they must act now to change the leader.”

An election within the next year is very likely, and Labour MPs know they’ll do even worse than in 2015.