Are key Corbyn allies blocking him from quitting as Labour leader?
Left-wing militants around Jeremy Corbyn 'would rather Labour splits than he quit'
A MILITANT cabal around Jeremy Corbyn was last night accused of preventing the Labour leader from stepping down.
While the hard-left leader might have resigned himself to defeat, the shadow chancellor John McDonnell and his spin doctor Seumas Milne are blocking him from falling on his sword, it is claimed.
Deputy leader Tom Watson accused Mr Corbyn's long-time ally Mr McDonnell of being the main blockage in the Labour leader's departure.
"He's obviously been told to stay by his close ally John McDonnell and they're a team and they've decided that they're going to tough it out," he told the BBC.
"So it looks like the Labour Party is heading for some form of contested election."
Another senior Labour source told The Times: "This stuff about him wanting to leave but being persuaded to stay by Seumas and McDonnell is true."
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The shadow chancellor denied the claims, saying Mr Corbyn "makes his own mind up" while a spokesman for the Labour leader said the allegations were "ridiculous".
Mr Corbyn faced yet another wounding day yesterday as the Prime Minister and former leader of the Labour party called on him to resign for for the sake of the country.
In dramatic scenes in the Commons, David Cameron shouted across the despatch box: "For heaven's sake man, go!"
He has lost the faith of Labour MPs with 172 joining a vote of no confidence and yesterday MEPs wrote a joint letter urging him to stand aside.
Former interim leader Dame Margaret Beckett burst into tears on live radio as she accused some of Mr Corbyn's left-wing advisers of being happy to sacrifice the Labour party for the sake of clinging onto power.
She said: “There are people around Jeremy who are prepared to see the Labour Party split rather than for him to go.”
Angela Eagle is expected to launch a leadership challenge today.
The Labour meltdown comes as the Tories tear themselves apart over their leadership, with Boris Johnson announcing he will not be standing for Prime Minister.
Rebels are reluctant to launch a breakaway without union support and cash, who have so far stood by Mr Corbyn.
They also feel a deep emotional connection to Labour and do not want to abandon it.
But one MP told The Sun: “If we have to re-found the Labour Party then we will re-found the Labour Party.”
Many Labour MPs fear Mr Corbyn and his team are completing the work of the 1980s Militant Tendency by making the party focus on hard-left causes rather than winning elections, spurred on by radical “Corbynista” members who joined up to back him.
Former minister Chris Bryant branded it “a battle for the soul of the Labour Party”.
Mr Corbyn’s team hope he can cling on until the Chilcot Report is published on Wednesday, when they plan a major attack on Tony Blair over the Iraq War.
They could even call for him to be prosecuted for war crimes in a move that could hasten a split.
SNP bid to become official opposition
THE SNP yesterday moved to become the official opposition party in the Commons.
With 54 MPs, the Scottish Nationalists insisted they had more right than the feuding Labour party.
Speaker John Bercow blocked the bid after taking “expert advice”.
