Exclusive: More than 50 PPCs call on Corbyn to quit

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Jeremy Corbyn

This article was edited to remove the name of one PPC who said he had been placed on the list inaccurately by the organisers of the letter.

More than 55 Labour parliamentary candidates have called for Jeremy Corbyn to resign as leader and said the party would “fail” in a general election.

The former PPCs, who stood seats across London and the south-east, the Midlands, Scotland and Wales, said Labour needs a leader who would be seen as a “credible Prime Minister” with a vision for the whole of Britain.

The letter has been signed by 57 candidates and sent to John Cryer, chair of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP).

“We admire the service that Jeremy Corbyn has offered to our Party as leader in the past year and his long service as an MP and within the Union movement,” it reads.

“However, we believe we must accept that we cannot achieve our shared ambitions for the future of the United Kingdom without a leader able to command the confidence of the country. That is why we believe that the Labour Party must seek a change of leadership.”

The letter comes after Corbyn lost 23 members of his shadow Cabinet with 20 choosing to resign, two peers effectively quitting and Hilary Benn being sacked over the weekend.

Activists and would-be candidates have grown increasingly concerned about the prospect of a newly installed Tory leader – such as Boris Johnson or Theresa May – calling a snap election in the aftermath of the vote for Brexit.

The full text of the PPCs’ letter is published below. A spokesman for Corbyn declined to comment.

 

Dear John Cryer,

As Labour Party candidates in last year’s General Election we have knocked on thousands of doors and spoken to thousands of voters of all backgrounds, across the country. There are two deeply important lessons we learned in that effort.

First, we cannot win an election unless the country believes that our Party leader is a credible Prime Minister, who they can trust to both lead our country on a world stage and help their family at home.

Second, that the Labour Party must have a strong and positive vision for the country as a whole. We have to be a party of every region, age and background.

We have come to believe that were a General Election to be held today, Labour would fail these two tests.  

We admire the service that Jeremy Corbyn has offered to our Party as leader in the past year and his long service as an MP and within the Union movement.  However, we believe we must accept that we cannot achieve our shared ambitions for the future of the United Kingdom without a leader able to command the confidence of the country.

That is why we believe that the Labour Party must seek a change of leadership.

Yours sincerely

1.    Mary Wimbury – Aberconwy
2.    Dame Anne Begg – Aberdeen South
3.    Pamela Nash – Airdrie and Shotts
4.    John Fisher – Aldridge Brownhills
5.    Gavin Callaghan – Basildon and Billericay
6.    Paul Harvey – Basingstoke
7.    Ollie Middleton – Bath
8.    Sam Rushworth – Blackpool North and Cleveleys
9.    James Walsh – Bracknell
10. Liam Preston – Brentwood and Ongar
11. Jon Wheale – Burton and Uttoxeter
12. Mari Williams – Cardiff North
13. Delyth Evans – Carmarthen West and South Pembrokshire
14. Tristan Osborne – Chatham and Aylesford
15. Alexandra Sanderson – Chelsea and Fulham
16. Jordan Newell – Colchester
17. Manjinder Singh Kang – The Cotswolds
18. Chris Oxlade – Crawley
19. Abigail Campbell – Daventry
20. Russell Brown – Dumfries and Galloway
21. Steve Race – East Devon
22. Tim Macpherson – East Worthing and Shoreham
24. Willie Bain – Glasgow North East
25. Mel Ward – Glenrothes and Central Fife 
26. Sophy Gardner – Gloucester
27. Richard Wilson – Guildford
28. Sundip Meghani – Harborough
29. Michael Taylor – Hazel Grove
30. Sam Juthani – Henley
31. Matthew Brown – Louth and Horncastle
32. Charles Smith – Maidenhead
33. Kenny Young – Midlothian
34. Andrew Pakes – Milton Keynes South
35. Sean Morton – Moray
36. Sally Keeble – Northampton North
37. Kevin McKeever – Northampton South
38. Nick Thulbourn – North West Cambridgeshire
39. Jamie McMahon – North West Leicestershire
40. Jess Asato – Norwich North
41. Vicky Fowler – Nuneaton
42. Gordon Banks – Ochil and South Perthshire
43. Victoria Groulef – Reading West
44. Naushabah Khan – Rochester and Strood
45. Darren Paffey – Romsey and Southampton North
46. Michael Borio – Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
47. Guy Nicholson – Sittingbourne and Sheppey
48Amanda Hack – South Leicestershire
49. Jack Abbott – Suffolk Central and North Ipswich
50. Mark Dempsey – Swindon North
51. Anne Snelgrove – Swindon South
52. Stephen Webb – Wantage
53. Nick Bent – Warrington South
54. Matt Turmaine – Watford
55. Gemma Doyle – West Dunbartonshire
56. Duncan Enright – Witney
57. Joy Squires – Worcester

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