Exclusive: New coup against Corbyn would plunge Labour below 10 per cent – Abbott

Labour would plunge below 10 per cent in the opinion polls if it pushed out Jeremy Corbyn, one of his leading allies says today.

Diane Abbott used a LabourList article to argue that the party would hit a single-digit figure in the polls if the leader was replaced by “any one of his vocal critics”.

The shadow home secretary spoke out after a series of surveys recorded a rating in the mid-20s for Labour in contrast to the Tories, and Theresa May, who have been comfortably above 40 per cent.

Corbyn’s critics in the Commons have maintained a vow of silence in recent months although rumours have gathered of a fresh move against the leader if Labour performs poorly in the local and metro mayoral elections on May 4.

Today Abbott warns against the dangers of a fresh coup fewer than seven months after Corbyn saw off the challenge of Owen Smith. In an outspoken article Abbott praises Corbyn’s “brave and correct” opposition to US airstrikes on Syria and criticises the Tories, right-wing newspapers and supporters of “business-as-usual” politics, seen as a reference to centre-left Labour MPs.

“One of their current arguments is that Labour’s difficulties in the polls are all attributable to him and that if only we had a new leader, almost any leader, then this would resolve our problems. This is completely untrue,” Abbott writes.

“We can go further. Compared to all his critics, Jeremy Corbyn is worth about 18-20 percentage points to Labour’s vote. Without him, and led by any one of his vocal critics we could easily be languishing in single digits in polls.”

Abbott’s claims are likely to provoke intense debate in the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), where Corbyn has modest support, while a series of former leadership contenders such as Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall sit on the backbenches.

Corbyn and his allies have repeatedly blamed Labour’s double-digit poll deficit on the summer leadership contest following Britain’s vote to leave the EU.

“We were distracted by the leadership contest when we could have been attacking the Tories,” Corbyn explained in December.