26/06/2016 The Papers

will just be it. I have races that I am committed to for the rest of the

year, then I will decide whether I go.

Time for The Paper. -- The Papers. With me are Lisa Markwell,

former editor of The Independent on Sunday, and Martin Bentham,

the Home Affairs Editor of Hilary Benn's sacking fully

emerged, and this morning's reports that up to half the shadow cabinet

are expected to resign in a bid Heidi Alexander being the first

to announce she's stepping down. The Observer reported

that the Labour leader had been facing a coup by members

of his shadow cabinet, led by the former Shadow

Foreign Secretary. The Sunday Times says

Hilary Benn had been consulting colleagues about telling

Jeremy Corbyn his time was up. Elsewhere, "Tories at War"

is the Sunday Telegraph's headline. The paper says bitter infighting has

reached new heights "Tories Battle to Stop

Boris" is the Mail The paper says a string of MPs

are lining up in the race to succeed and the Sunday Express

outlines what it The paper says a string of MPs

are lining up in the race to succeed And the Sunday Express

outlines what it says is a triple boost to the UK

following the referendum. What the make of this? It was

probably inevitable that it was going to happen quite quickly that

the Labour Shadow Cabinet, people who disagree with Jeremy Corbyn, or

feel that now is the time to mobilise, have to do something very

quickly, because for a labourer, if they want to install a new leader,

and if there is the possibility of a general election, they have to get a

new leader in place quickly and the only way to do that is to push for a

mass resignations, which it looks like we will get today. Hilary Benn

was not resignation, but he was pushed out. It is all about timing.

Somebody I noticed on Twitter was saying that one of Jeremy Corbyn's

advisers last night must have done the sacking from the taxi on the way

home from the party last night. It is all very uncharted waters, this

sort of middle of the night. What you make of this? You could not make

some of it up. In a way it has been about to happen for quite some time,

just a matter of when. From the Parliamentary Labour Party

to view, since the Mormon Jeremy Corbyn was elected. There has been

talk for a long time, and obviously now because of the referendum result

-- the moment Jeremy Corbyn was elected. Even if there is not a

general election on the horizon, obviously there will be won in 2020

at the very latest, they have to address that damage that has been

caused to the core support which we saw some of the last election anyway

and looks to be getting worse. They do not want to face in the north of

the country -- the country what they faced in Scotland. As it happens on

this occasion, he has fast forward at himself -- fast forward it down

mac the situation himself by this late-night sacking.

You could see how it could happen. It is only a year since the actual

general election. With David Cameron stepping down there will be a

groundswell of opinion which says, we need to be able to press the

reset button across the board. I think it is fascinating that this

massive, seismic events, which is leaving the EU, obviously people are

talking about it, but we are talking so much more about the personalities

rather than this enormous, once-in-a-lifetime event. It is so

important who replaces Cameron, and so important who replaces Jeremy

Corbyn, but we must not lose sight of what is really happening here,

which is this decision which will reverberate through the next

hundreds of years. David Cameron, Boris Johnson, article 50, all of

that... Belieber debate is not entirely irrelevant, but somewhat

irrelevant -- The Labour debate. The fact that people were googling, what

is the EU? And saying that they would not leave if they had known

what was going to happen. This is a time when the newspapers are very

important. If the newspapers did not do a good enough job of that, which

on the whole they did, it is a real struggle to see how people will make

an informed opinion about who to vote foreign general election if

they got their start mac if they said that they did not understand

the issues around the EU. Sticking with Jeremy Corbyn just for a

second, he may be hosted, but he could run again. The suggestion is

that he will not quit, which could mean that he could be re-elected. As

your political correspondent quite rightly summarised situation

recently, the problem for the critics of Jeremy Corbyn is exactly

that, that the party is supportive of Jeremy Corbyn but also his view

of the world, that left of centre view, there is a big split between

the grassroots of the party and the people who actually bolted. --

voted. The problem is that someone like Jeremy Corbyn will win again.

The gulf between the party and the politicians. Only something like 2.5

people who voted Labour at the last general election... It is

significant that he has grassroots support... That is entirely valid,

but it is not the Labour Party, it is the Labour readership... This

could have been foreseen at the time that he was elected. Some said that

he was an electable. Many of his critics did say that. He still got

voted in by the people in the party. We will come back to that. We might

even go over and hear Hilary Benn if he appears on the Andrew Marr

programme shortly. Tories at war. Minister claims that

project fewer warnings -- project fewer warnings are being borne out

-- gulf. The Sunday papers were only a week

ago heralding the joy of leaving. Now they are panicking, who is going

to run this thing? 24 hours ago, Boris Johnson was saying that David

Cameron was this marvellous statesman. No friends of Boris

Johnson are briefing against David Cameron -- now. It is all friends

against friends, friends,' is. -- "friends".

Tories battle to stop Boris Johnson. Five rivals it tend to battle for

number ten. He is not loved by everybody within the Parliamentary

Conservative Party. Inevitably that will lead to a definite contest for

the leadership. I would have thought that it is him or to Reza may -- to

Reza -- consumer. She is the till person. There are

criticisms that Boris Johnson is good at the big picture, but she's

very good at running a department. She's a formidable hard worker and

is devoted. Do not assume that Boris Johnson is the darling of the

Conservative Party activists, some people do not necessarily want a

permanent right on the big Dipper. Some of his appeal is that he can

reach out across and beyond the Tory divide. On the other hand, there is

the danger that people do not like him because of his showmanship. He

is a winner. He won the London mayor collection and he won, if you can

call it that, the referendum. They might say, we might not like him but

he is effective. The mail on Sunday, a picture of Boris Johnson playing

cricket, it says, Boris Johnson plays cricket as George Osborne goes

missing. We are is George Osborne? This is fascinating. We saw the

poignant pictures yesterday of David Cameron and Samantha Cameron.

Whatever the broader picture is, he has to be visible, he has to do

something. Before the referendum, he said that we do not have a plan in

place. Mark Carney said that he had been talking to the Chancellor for

weeks. By your apps and you're really undermining any chance that

you have left of continuing to be in front line politics. I do not think

that he has much of a chance. Win or lose I think that he has antagonised

an awful lot of people. Especially with his emergency budget, and a lot

of Tories said that they would not vote for it. He was at the forefront

of the Project Fear agenda. He does need to actually do his job. Let us

hear from Hilary Benn on the Andrew Marr show.

This has been a very difficult decision for me because I agreed to

serve in Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet. I did not vote for him, but

I thought we had a responsibility to support him, as I have supported

every Labour Leader since I was elected as a member of Parliament.

But it was becoming increasingly clear that there was grave concern

about his leadership. I said to him that I no longer had confidence... I

no longer had confidence in his leadership and he then dismissed me

from the Shadow Cabinet, which is understandable, and I thanked him

for having given me the opportunity to serve as Shadow Foreign

Secretary. But the position is this. At this absolutely critical time for

our country, following the EU referendum result, the Labour Party

needs strong and effect if leadership to hold the government to

account as we take huge decisions about the future of our country. We

do not currently have that, and there is no confidence that we will

be able to win a general election as long as Jeremy Corbyn remains

leader, and I thought it was important to say that. Is a

concerted move now against him? We have seen Heidi Alexander announced

her resignation this morning. There are rumours that more will follow.

Will there be more, do you think? Of course, as you would expect. It is

for each individual to make their own decision. I have made mine, and

I have made my views clear to Jeremy. He is a good and decent

man... He is a good and decent man, but he is not a leader, and that is

the problem. You called him, presumably? I did. You knew what was

going on, presumably. I was not entirely surprised. He took his

decision, as he was perfectly entitled to do. Do you accept that

what you did was disloyal? Route I did what I believe to be true. -- I

said what I believe to be true. I have devoted a lot of my personal

life to politics, and if things are not working I think we have a wider

responsibility to the party that we love, to speak out, because although

this is, number of people will see that this is not an ideal time,

there is never an ideal time, but it is not working, so therefore I

thought it was important to speak out. Let us talk about the timing.

It was less than a year ago that Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader on

an absolutely massive landslide vote inside the Labour Party by members,

trade unionists and others. Now it appears that there is a coup against

him. The Conservative Party is tearing itself apart and an election

looms quickly. Is this not the worst possible timing to be doing this? I

want to Jeremy to be able to succeed, which is why greed to serve

in the Shadow Cabinet. Not every body agreed to do so. But it has

become clear that he is not succeeding, and there is never an

ideal time and I recognise that and I also understand there will be

those in the party live very, very unhappy about this. But we all await

Judy -- we all wider duty to the party and the country needs a strong

opposition. Can you walk us through the next few days? There will be a

meeting on Monday and the possibility of a secret ballot on

Tuesday on a motion of no confidence, which Margaret Hodge

laid down. Is that when you think you will have to go? It is for

Jeremy to make his own decision and further members of the Shadow

Cabinet, the front bench, to decide what they will do. A number of

things are happening, which you have just described. What we need more

than anything else is strong leadership to deal with the

challenge that the country faces. Because the decisions that you have

just been discussing, article 50, personally, on that, we need to work

out what kind of relation job we want to have with Europe. It is

important that we continue to have access to the single market, the

majority has sent us a message about free movement. We have to accept the

decision, though I am very sorry about the outcome. Is there a basis

to say, as the Liberal Democrats have done, that this was a

catastrophe and we will frustrate the decision if we are elected? We

have to respect the democratic decision and democratic will of the

British people however much... I am glad you said that. However sad we

are about the outcome. It is finished? The decision has been

made, we have to make the best of it and heal the wounds. A nation

divided on such a fundamental issue, that is not good for the future of

the country. Have you decided whether to stand as the leader of

the Labour Party? I am not going to be candidate for leader. I did not

do this because I wanted to do it, I did it because it was the right

thing to do. I care about the party that we have committed so much of

our lives too. This seems like a futile coup attempt. Whatever the

parliamentary party decides to do, the decision has to go back to the

mass membership of the party, who we know are still vehemently

enthusiastic we in favour of Jeremy Corbyn. Whatever happens in

Parliament, the Labour Party will choose Jeremy Corbyn again, isn't

it? That depends what happens. Whether Jeremy Corbyn decides to

step down or to fight again. But I would also say to you, from

conversations on the doorstep and with Labour Party members, that

there are people who voted for Jeremy last year who are now seeing,

it is not working, is it? The party will have to reflect on that because

in the end we have to decide, are we going to be and affected -- and

effective political force? There is a poll on the people today who

suggest that people who voted for us as saying that they would not do so

now. That would be catastrophic for the party as well as the country,

because we need a strong and effective Labour Party. Just

guessing, a lot of those are going to go to Ukip? That remains to be

seen. We have to show as a party that we have listened to the

message, the majority have centres. There are a number of reasons for

that, sovereignty and immigration was a big message on the doorstep.

Profound change, insecurity, old jobs have disappeared, people

worrying about housing and the futures of their children. The

Labour Party has to listen and show that we have understated and that we

will come forward with policies. Do you think Jeremy Corbyn should now

resign as Labour Leader? I no longer have confidence in him and the right

thing for him to do with each take that decision, but that is the

matter for him. Do you have a candidate in mind to replace them?

No, that is not about him. In a sense it is. If there is an

election, that will be a decision for the Labour Party. It is

increasingly widely felt that the leadership we currently have is not

working. I have said that openly and honestly. If there is a vote of no

confidence next week, at that point, do you think that it is over for

him? It is very difficult for any Labour leader to survive a vote of

no confidence from the members that he is leading but we will have to

see what happens. If he is supported by the party and the country, would

you need a new structure to deal with that? I do not think that is an

issue to talk about today. We had to deal with the situation we find

ourselves in. We had the referendum campaign, I do not lean Jeremy for

the outcome of the referendum, but people saw that he did not bring a

great deal of enthusiasm to the task of arguing the case for Britain

remaining in the European Union. Some people on the Jeremy Corbyn

side of the item and say that you are leading a coup against him. Is

that a fairway of putting it? I would not describe it as that

myself. How would you describe it? I have come to the conclusion that I

no longer have confidence. I said to him that I could not continue to

serve and he dismissed me, and he is right to do so. It is for others to

take the decision, but if this is the conclusion that we reach about

the party that we care about, the right thing to do is to be

straightforward and open about it and consequences will unfold.

Hilary Benn speaking to Andrew Marr and saying that he has lost

confidence in Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of