Labour MPs have laid into Jeremy Corbyn after a disastrous election in which the party lost 60 seats – many in their former heartlands.
The embattled Labour leader faced the wrath of MPs at a private meeting in Westminster last night, after the party endured it’s worst electoral result in 80 years.
One MP could be heard telling Mr Corbyn that Labour had been “economically illiterate” under his stewardship and that he was the “main problem” on the doorstep with voters.
The outgoing Labour leader did not answer journalists’ questions as he entered and left a committee room to speak to the Parliamentary Labour Party, but he could be heard apologising inside.
“I am very sorry for the result, for which I take responsibility,” he said.
“I will continue to lead the party until a new leader is elected.
“I want us to have the smoothest possible transition for the sake of the party as a whole and for those Labour mayors and councillors who are up for re-election in May.
“Whoever the next leader is, they will need the party to come together for those elections and to oppose Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.”
Mr Corbyn is understood to have said Brexit was a major reason Labour lost voters’ trust as he told MPs they must listen to those they have lost.
“Despite our best efforts, I believe this election was ultimately about Brexit,” he said.
“The Tory campaign, amplified by most of the media, managed to persuade many that only Boris Johnson could ‘get Brexit done’.
“That will soon be exposed for the falsehood it is,” he is understood to have told the meeting.
“We must now listen to those lifelong Labour voters who we’ve lost. I believe that Brexit was a major – although not the only – reason for their loss of trust in us.
“We need to go to places where we lost and genuinely listen to what people want and what they believe is possible.”
The meeting came as Labour MPs continued to jostle for position to replace Mr Corbyn.
Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner is reported to have agreed to step aside in the leadership race to support her close friend, Rebecca Long-Bailey.
The shadow business secretary – a protege of shadow chancellor John McDonnell – has long been seen as the favourite of the left to succeed Mr Corbyn.
Other potential candidates include shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry and the backbenchers Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips.
