Jeremy Corbyn tells Labour MPs to stop sniping at leadership and turn fire on Tories

Leader admits party not yet doing enough to win 2020 General Election

Jeremy Corbyn (right) meets with newly elected Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (PA)

Jeremy Corbyn has told rebel Labour MPs to stop sniping against the leadership and turn their fire on the Tory Government, in a call for unity in the wake of the local elections.

The Labour leader told a meeting of the parliamentary party that grassroots members did not want to see MPs “parading on the media to give a running commentary on our party”.

In a measured assessment of the party’s fortunes in last week’s local elections, he said results had been “mixed” and admitted Labour was not yet doing enough to win the 2020 General Election.

However, he said the party’s recovery had “begun in earnest” with victories in the mayoral elections in London and Bristol and a net gain of councils in England, and appealed to his MPs to work together and concentrate their energies on holding the Government to account.

“I don’t expect, or even want, blind loyalty,” he told MPs, during an appearance at the Parliamentary Labour Party meeting in Westminster. “But members and supporters expect us all to focus on taking on the Tories – and for our debates to be focused on policy, not personality.

“Members also tell me that they don’t think Labour MPs should be parading on the media to give a running commentary on our party. if we are on the media we are there to give our verdict on this failed and divisive government, not on each other.

“We need, if not across-the-board unity, then at least respect for each other – and to turn our fire on this Tory government, and its forced academisation, tax and disability cuts policies in utter disarray.”

Mr Corbyn’s call for unity is likely to be met with scepticism by some MPs, particularly given his own record of rebelling against previous Labour leaders.

He addressed MPs after meeting with the new Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Mr Khan told MPs at the same meeting that Labour could still win in 2020 if it could be “a big tent that appeals to everyone in our country”.

He compared the current Tory government’s divisions over the EU and its recent string of prominent U-turns to the difficulties faced by John Major’s government in the 1990s. He warned that Labour could not afford to “miss any open goals”.

“The incompetence and internal divisions that we’ve seen from the Government in recent months is reminiscent of the Major years…a Government in decline,” he said.

“Just like we did then, Labour has a responsibility to hold the Government to account for its failures and show we are a credible government-in-waiting. We are not there yet, but I know with the right approach, Labour can still win in 2020.”