Cameron began by dismissing Corbyn’s apparent argument that austerity or poverty could have played a role in contributing to the loss by the remain side in the EU referendum.
“We all have to reflect on our role in the referendum campaign,” Cameron told the opposition leader, taking aim at Corbyn for his perceived lacklustre support for staying in the EU.
“I know the honourable gentleman says he put his back into it. All I’d say, I’d hate to see him when he’s not trying.”
Pressed again on child poverty, Cameron became visibly angry.
He told Corbyn: “If he’s looking for excuses about why the side he and I were on [lost] the referendum, frankly he should look somewhere else.
"And I have to say to the honourable gentleman, he talks about job insecurity with my two months to go.
"It might be in my party’s interest for him to sit there. It’s not in the national interest. I would say – for heaven’s sake, man, go.”
Tory MPs cheered riotously, to continued silence from the Labour benches, who had barely acknowledged any of their leader’s prior answers.
On Tuesday, more than three-quarters of Labour MPs, 172 in all, voted to say they had no confidence in Corbyn’s leadership, while 40 voted for him.
Ed Miliband calls for Jeremy Corbyn to resign as Labour leader over Brexit
Labor office holders have always overwhelmingly opposed him, but the membership chose him and apparently would again in another leadership contest.
Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, has called for Jeremy Corbyn to resign, saying he has lost the confidence of the party’s MPs in parliament and his position has become untenable.
Miliband, who introduced the leadership election process that helped Corbyn sweep to power last September, and whom some MPs blamed for dragging the party to the left, had previously supported Corbyn.
But after rolling mass resignations from the shadow cabinet, which have continued into Tuesday with Pat Glass resigning as shadow education secretary just two days after being appointed, Milband said it was time for Labour to unite around an alternative candidate.
. . . .
All of Labour’s 20 MEPs published a statement withdrawing their support from the leader.
One senior party source said: “It’s not a coup, it’s a riot.”
. . . .
Corbyn’s allies have made clear that he has no intention of stepping aside, and members of his team are readying themselves for a contest.
. . . .
A defiant Corbyn has vowed to fight on despite an overwhelming vote of no confidence by his own MPs, who declared their wish to see him gone by a margin of more than four to one.
But while his Westminster colleagues are lined up against him, the leader appears confident he still commands sufficient support among the wider membership to emerge victorious once again.
Crucially, he also appears to enjoy the support of trade union chiefs.
McDonnell, Corbyn’s closest ally, told reporters as he left his home on Wednesday morning that he accepted there would be a leadership challenge, but urged Labour MPs to calm down.
He said: “It looks as though we will have a leadership election now … All we are saying to Labour MPs is play by the rules, play by the rules of our party, and if there is to be a democratic election, respect the wishes of our members.”
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