JEREMY Corbyn is due to make an announcement soon on a reshuffle of his Shadow Cabinet, after insisting that a string of resignations over the Brexit Bill were "not a disaster".
However, speculation was mounting that a number of more junior frontbenchers who rebelled over Article 50 could escape discipline, as the Labour leader indicated he was not planning a "wide" shake-up of his team. In practical terms, it could be difficult for Mr Corbyn to sack a swathe of his colleagues given there are now so few supporters to take their places.
Clive Lewis quit as Shadow Business Secretary so he could oppose the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill in defiance of Mr Corbyn's three-line whip on Wednesday, bringing the total number of shadow cabinet resignations to four.
He was one of 52 Labour MPs - including 11 junior shadow ministers and three whips - to vote against the bill, which gives Theresa May the authority to start EU withdrawal negotiations under Article 50 of the EU treaties. A further 13 did not vote.
Conservatives seized on Labour's turmoil to claim the Opposition was "hopelessly divided" over Brexit.
But when asked about the rebellion in his party's ranks, Mr Corbyn told BBC Breakfast: "No, it's not a disaster."
The Labour leader also said rumours that he was preparing to quit the party's top job were "absolute nonsense".
During a fractious interview, Mr Corbyn accused the programme of reporting "fake news".
Suggestions swirling around Westminster on Wednesday that he had set a date for stepping down as party leader were from "I made it up yesterday dot com", insisted Mr Corbyn.
"I'm really surprised the BBC is reporting fake news," he said. "There is no news. There is no news."
Pressed about claims that he would have to reconsider his position in a year if his poll ratings had not improved, Mr Corbyn replied: "We are demanding social justice in Britain. That's what the Labour Party exists for, that's what I'm leading the party for, and that's what I'm going to continue doing."
The party leader said he had ordered his MPs to walk through the voting lobby with the Government because the party had to carry out the result of the referendum.
The Labour leader insisted his party had not given Theresa May a blank cheque over Brexit.
But when it was suggested Labour had agreed with everything the Government was proposing, a clearly irritated Mr Corbyn replied: "No, we haven't agreed with everything. Do you not understand that this was a one-clause Bill?"
The frontbenchers who voted against the bill in its final Commons stage were: Rosena Allin-Khan; Kevin Brennan; Lyn Brown; Ruth Cadbury; Rupa Huq; Chi Onwurah; Stephen Pound; Andy Slaughter; Catherine West; Alan Whitehead and Daniel Zeichner. The whips were Thangam Debbonaire, Vicky Foxcroft and Jeff Smith.
Last week, Rachael Maskell, Jo Stevens and Dawn Butler quit the Shadow Cabinet to vote against the bill at Second Reading and have not yet been replaced.
Diane Abbott, the Shadow Home Secretary, who last week blamed a migraine for her failure to attend a key vote on the Bill, turned out to back the triggering of Article 50.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel