Blairites would be 'foolish' to launch a coup against Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott warns

The shadow international development secretary says the Labour leader has the support of members

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (Getty )

Jeremy Corbyn’s internal rivals in the Labour party would be “foolish” to launch a coup against his leadership, a member of the shadow cabinet has said.

Diane Abbott said a rebellion to replace the Labour leader, who was elected by a landslide last September, would fail because members still backed him.

Though Mr Corbyn enjoys strong support amongst Labour members he has many critics among the party’s MPs.

Weekly meetings of the Parliamentary Labour Party have become an opportunity for Mr Corbyn’s critics to voice their concerns – and to brief the media about their views.

MPs were incensed earlier this week after Mr Corbyn went to appear on a late peak ITV television programme instead of addressing their private meeting at length. He also drew criticism for appearing at an anti-Trident rally at the weekend.

Opposition has so far failed to crystalise around a replacement, however – despite Simon Danczuk warning that organised opposition to Mr Corbyn's leadership would begin from "day one".

“I read in the papers there’s going to be a move against Jeremy after the elections. I think party members would be very disappointed in that,” Ms Abbott, who is shadow international development secretary, told Parliament’s internal The House magazine.

Diane Abbott is a political ally of Jeremy Corbyn (Getty)

“My sense, travelling outside of London and so on, is that members, and I include members who didn’t actually vote for Jeremy, think he should be given a fair chance.

“So I think it would be a mistake if anyone thought that moving against him in May would meet with the acquiescence of the party.

“I think if they try to bring him down in May, if they were to be as foolish as that, they wouldn’t succeed.”

Polling conducted by YouGov for the Election Data website last month found that 72 per cent of Labour members approved of Mr Corbyn, with 17 per cent disapproving.

Mr Corbyn won the Labour leadership election with a knock-out blow in the first round of the contest – with 59.5 per cent of the vote – but his support among the membership seems to have risen dramatically since then.

Any challenger would likely have to defeat Mr Corbyn in a leadership election, unless he stood aside.

The party has practically doubled in size since Mr Corbyn won the leadership election – with the flood of new members apparently favouring the Labour leader.

Voting intention polls however show Labour significantly behind the Conservatives.