Leader comment: Time Labour Party got back to work

Jeremy Corbyn has refused to buckle to the pressure. Picture: Greg Macvean

Over the past week we have seen various groupings of discontented Labour MPs do everything they can to pressurise their leader Jeremy Corbyn out of office.

During all this time Mr Corbyn has stood firm, citing his overwhelming mandate from Labour Party members.

His point is to ask who the leader of the Labour party is suppposed to serve, the membership or the MPs? He has a very valid argument that it is the members, and he has the backing of the members who elected him.

The MPs view is that might render the party unelectable, and a party that cannot be elected might as well not exist.

Over the past few years there has been much talk of the “dislocation” which has grown between people and politics, people and their MPs, and people and their governments.

This has been part of the huge drive for change that has resulted in the recent political shocks. What is happening is that the political landscape is having to re-align itself with the changed views of society and that demand for change. So perhaps Mr Corbyn is right to put it to the test. If the party back him, then those MPS who have no confidence in him must surely realise it is them who are not getting it, them who are not undestanding the need for change. Maybe it is they who are not realising that the values of Labour party members have swung back to a something resembling a previous incarnation. The MPs must launch a leadership challenge, and if Corbyn wins again, we should soon expect a number of different Labour MPs.