ALISTAIR Darling has brutally dismissed Jeremy Corbyn’s chances of winning the general election and suggested he will not be Labour leader after June 8.
Campaigning in Edinburgh South, the former Chancellor twice refused to endorse Mr Corbyn, described him as leader “until the general election” and added: “Leaders come and go”.
He said Labour’s best prospect was to be a “sizeable opposition”.
The former Labour MP, now Lord Darling of Roulanish, has been a frequent critic of Mr Corbyn in the past, and voted for his rival Liz Kendall in the 2015 Labour leadership contest.
However his dismissal of Mr Corbyn in the midst of a general election campaign, when parties traditionally rally together, was an unexpected gift to Labour’s opponents.
Lord Darling made the comments while campaigning alongside Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray, who is defending Labour’s sole constituency north of the Border.
Like Lord Darling, Mr Murray is also a past critic of Mr Corbyn, and resigned as shadow Scottish Secretary last year.
The row coincided with the SNP announcing Jim Eadie would be their candidate in the seat.
A former MSP, Mr Eadie lost the equivalent Holyrood seat of Edinburgh Souther last year.
Asked if he would endorse Mr Corbyn, Lord Darling said: “Well, he is the leader. He’s the leader for the next, you know, right up until the general election.
“You know where I stand on that. My view is we need to get on. We’re fighting in a general election campaign. You know, leaders come and go.
“It’s important we get the best possible result for the country, and that means having a sensible, sizeable opposition... that can actually make a difference.”
Asked again if he endorsed Mr Corbyn, Lord Darling went on: “He’s the leader. There’s no question that he’s the leader. It’s for him to convince people over the next six weeks, and voters will make of it what they will.
“What I’m concerned about is that we get people like Ian returned at the next election so that we have decent people arguing against an ever more extreme and bleak view of what might happen [after Brexit].”
Lord Darling said there was a risk of British politics being hijacked by Tory right-wing, leaving “middle Britain” unrepresented.
He said: "One of the problems we have in the UK is for a long time the middle, sensible voice, middle Britain was unrepresented and the entire political debate has been skewed to the right.
"In many cases it's been hijacked by people who take a very extreme and narrow view of our relationship with the rest of Europe. And we need to have a balanced view.
“Jobs, prospects for the future, depend on us having a sensible view. That's why it's important you have a strong voice in the House of Commons making that point."
Indicating again that he believed Theresa May would be returned as Prime Minister, he said: “I've always thought Theresa May's main problem in the House of Commons is not actually the Remainers, they are the Brexiteers, who disposed of three other leaders of the Tory party within recent memory, and I'm sure she's very conscious of the fact that left to their own devices they might do the same again.”
Asked if Mr Corbyn was having a negative impact on his campaign, Mr Murray, who like Lord Darling chose not to name the Labour leader, said: “People realise here in Edinburgh House this is a straight fight between Labour and the SNP, and people will vote on that basis.
“They understand that they want to send Nicola Sturgeon a strong message that they don’t want a second independence referendum, and there’s also a lot of people on the doorsteps talking about having a strong voice in parliament against a hard Brexit.”
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