JEREMY Corbyn is “well-placed” to win back votes for Labour in Scotland, fellow left-winger Diane Abbott has asserted, as the leadership contest continued to be a display of public recriminations.
Ms Abbott, a fellow London MP noted: “We lost in Scotland to a party that was anti-austerity, in favour of universal benefits and in favour of scrapping Trident. We are ignoring the 40 seats we lost in Scotland...”
She added: "Jeremy is well-placed to get back some of those voters in Scotland...People should not sneer at Jeremy; he speaks for millions of people."
But modernising candidate Liz Kendall, who refused calls for her to quit the race to succeed Ed Miliband, pledging to fight to “the very end”, suggested a Corbyn victory would be “a disaster” for Labour.
“Turning back to the politics of the 1980s, which saw us suffer defeat after defeat does nothing to help the people we all came into politics to serve," she declared.
Ms Kendall, the Shadow Health Minister,has ruled out serving in a Corbyn Shadow Cabinet but insisted she would not leave the party if he won in September.
"I'll never ever do that; that would be like me leaving my family,"she added.
Ian Murray, the Shadow Scottish Secretary, said he did “not know” if a Corbyn victory would be a disaster for his party but added: “It would make winning the 2020 General Election much more difficult. We need to be in government, not opposition, and anything that makes that more difficult is a disaster.”
Asked if he would serve in a Corbyn Shadow Cabinet, the Edinburgh MP said he would do “anything that is in the best interests of the Labour Party and the people we represent”.
But Mr Murray noted: “In the five and a half years I have been an MP, I have never had a conversation with Jeremy. When he was seeking nominations, we arranged a meeting but he never turned up; it was not a good start. He has never had the common courtesy to get in touch.”
The Shadow Secretary of State also dismissed Ms Abbott’s “simplistic” assertion that the SNP was somehow left-wing, stressing the reason they won in Scotland in May was because they appealed to the Left, Right and Centre.
“We need a policy platform that speaks to everyone; we can’t keep going in the opposite direction to the way the electorate votes.”
Mr Murray, who is expected to declare his choice for leader shortly, added: “The Labour Party is a UK party. The Tories don’t have to win votes in Scotland, the SNP don’t have to win votes in England; Labour has to appeal to everyone. That’s a dilemma and why it is too simplistic to say we need to be Left, Right or otherwise; we need to be Labour.”
Meantime, a poll underlined the scale of the party’s crisis with just over a quarter at 27 per cent, saying Andy Burnham, the bookies’ favourite, would make a good prime minister. Yvette Copper polled 22 per cent, Mr Corbyn 17 and Ms Kendall 16.
Elsewhere, Labour grandees added to the acrimonious atmosphere.
Lord Mandelson, one of the architects of New Labour, warned its future as a viable party of government was under threat in the wake of the popularity of Mr Corbyn.
Alan Milburn, the former Health Secretary, warned a lurch to the Left would show Labour “has a death-wish”.
While Lord Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister, ticked off his ex-leader, saying it was “totally unacceptable” for Tony Blair to have suggested anyone whose heart told them to back Mr Corbyn should “get a transplant”.
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