Rebel Labour MPs 'to form new group to force Jeremy Corbyn to resign' if party loses election
It is claimed that as many as 100 MPs could resign the whip if the party is thrashed in the election
Labour could be split in two after the election with many as 100 MPs reportedly plotting to form their own breakaway group to force Jeremy Corbyn to resign.
MPs on the moderate and right-wing of the party are said to be in talks with potential donors about forming a new “progressives” grouping in Parliament after the expected rout by the Conservatives in the election on 8 June.
One poll released today by French firm Kantar Media showed the Conservatives’ lead over the Labour has been cut by eight points, but the party is still well behind and looking at losing dozens of seats.
Under the plans reportedly being discussed by rebels, the MPs would resign the whip and sit as independents until Mr Corbyn is removed as leader.
They would then rejoin the parliamentary Labour Party, The Daily Telegraph reported. In this scenario they would retain Labour Party membership and would not create a new party formally.
Sources told the Telegraph that potential leaders of the breakaway group being discussed include shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer, former leadership candidate Yvette Cooper and popular backbencher Dan Jarvis – although there is no suggestion any candidate has been approached.
UK General Election 2017
Show all 47
UK General Election 2017
1/47 12 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street for the 1922 committee on June 12, 2017 in London, England. British Prime Minister Theresa May held her first cabinet meeting with her re-shuffled team today
Getty Images
2/47 12 June 2017
DUP leader Arlene Foster stands alongside deputy leader Nigel Dodds as they hold a press conference at Stormont Castle as the Stormont assembly power sharing negotiations reconvene following the general election on June 12, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Discussions between the DUP and the Conservative party are also continuing in the wake of the UK general election as Prime Minister Theresa May looks to form a government with the help of the Democratic Unionist parties ten Westminster seats. Stormont and the political situation in Northern Ireland has been in limbo following the collapse of the power sharing executive due to the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme scandal which implicated the DUP
Getty Images
3/47 12 June 2017
Priti Patel, International Development Secretary leaves 10 Downing Street
Getty Images
4/47 12 June 2017
Larry the Downing Street cat runs ahead of Michael Fallon Britain's Secretary of State for Defence as he arrives for a cabinet meeting at Downing Street in London, Britain, June 12, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
REUTERS
5/47 12 June 2017
Michael Gove, Environment Secretary leaves 10 Downing Street on June 12, 2017 in London, England. British Prime Minister Theresa May held her first cabinet meeting with her re-shuffled team today
Getty Images
6/47 12 June 2017
Scottish National Party Leader Nicola Sturgeon (C) leaves after speaking to the media in Parliament Square.
Getty Images
7/47 12 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May (C, L) holds the first Cabinet meeting of her new team.
Getty
8/47 11 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May attends church in her constituency with her husband Philip May, a few days after disappointing results in a general election.
Rex Features
9/47 9 June 2017
Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn leaves Labour Party HQ this morning, following a general election yesterday. Parliament is hung, with no individual party gaining an overall majority.
Post general election reaction.
Rex
10/47 9 June 2017
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JUNE 09: DUP leader and Northern Ireland former First Minister Arlene Foster (C) holds a brief press conference with the DUP's newly elected Westminster candidates who stood in the general election
Getty Images
11/47 9 June 2017
A " Get May Out" demo took place opposite the gates of Downing Street, calling for May to resign, after the shock election results and Mays coalition with the DUP.
Rex Features
12/47 9 June 2017
A demonstrator wears a mask depicting Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May, poses with a mock gravestone bearing the words "Hard Brexit, RIP", during a protest photocall near the entrance 10 Downing Street in central London
AFP/Getty Images
13/47 9 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the Conservative Party's headquarters in London
Reuters
14/47 9 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May flanked by her husband Philip delivers a statement outside 10 Downing Street in central Londo
Getty
15/47 9 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May leaves Buckingham Palace in London the day after a general election in which the Conservatives lost their majority
Getty Images
16/47 9 June 2017
A TV cameraman watches the door of 10 Downing Street in London
Getty Images
17/47 9 June 2017
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is greeted by his Office Director Karie Murphy as he arrives at Labour Party HQ in Westminster, London, after he called on the Prime Minister to resign, saying she should 'go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country'
Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
18/47 9 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the Conservative Party's headquarters with her husband Philip in London
REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
19/47 9 June 2017
Ukip leader Paul Nuttall speaks during a press conference at Boston West Golf Club where he announced that he is standing down as party leader
Joe Giddens/PA
20/47 9 June 2017
Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, leaves the counting centre for Britain's general election with her partner Jen Wilson in Edinburgh, Scotland
REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
21/47 9 June 2017
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale celebrates with candidate for Edinburgh South Ian Murray as he retains his seat at the Meadowbank Sports Centre counting centre in Edinburgh, Scotland
Getty Images
22/47 9 June 2017
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks to the media at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, as counting is under way for the General Election
Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
23/47 9 June 2017
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson at Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh, as counting is under way for the General Election
PA
24/47 9 June 2017
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon reacts at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland
EPA
25/47 9 June 2017
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, arrives at the Labour Party's Headquarters in London
REUTERS/Marko Djurica
26/47 9 June 2017
UKIP Leader Paul Nuttall leaves in a car following the vote count for the constituency of Boston and Skegness in Boston, England
Anthony Devlin/Getty Images
27/47 9 June 2017
British Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Theresa May speaks at the declaration at the election count at the Magnet Leisure Centre in Maidenhead, England.
Getty Images
28/47 8 June 2017
A policer officer enters a polling station in London
AP
29/47 8 June 2017
A woman leaves after casting her vote at the Hove Museum and Art Gallery near Brighton, in southern England
Getty
30/47 8 June 2017
A polling station sign is seen on a telephone box outside the polling station at Rotherwick Hall, west of London
Getty
31/47 7 June 2017
A woman walks past a general election display in the window of a betting shop in Camden on June 7, 2017 in London, United Kingdom. Britain goes to the polls tomorrow,
Getty Images
32/47 7 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May visits Atherley Bowling Club during an election campaign visit on June 7, 2017 in Southampton, England. Britain goes to the polls tomorrow June 8 to vote in a general election.
Getty Images
33/47 6 June 2017
A supporter wears a pair of Jeremy Corbyn decorated tights at a general election campaign event in Birmingham, central England, on June 6, 2017.
Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to vote in a general election only days after another deadly terror attack in the nation's captial.
AFP/Getty Images
34/47 6 June 2017
A picture taken in London, shows election leaflets from various parties displayed ahead of the United Kingdom's general elections.
Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to vote in a general election only days after another terrorist attack on the nation's capital
AFP/Getty Images
35/47 6 June 2017
Election workers, George Gaunt and Luca Tragid deliver the first ballot boxes, on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh
AFP
36/47 6 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with Conservative party supporters during an election campaign visit to a bakery during an election campaign visit on June 6, 2017 in Fleetwood, north-west England. Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to vote in a general election only days after another terrorist attack on the nation's capital
Getty Images
37/47 5 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a general election campaign visit to a removals depot in Edinburgh
AFP/Getty Images
38/47 3 June 2017
Pro-Independence supporters hold a march through Glasgow
AFP/Getty Images
39/47 3 June 2017
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigns for the upcoming general election in Beeston, Nottinghamshire
AFP/Getty Images
40/47 3 June 2017
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reacts to supporters after a rally at Beeston Youth and Community Centre as he visits the East Midlands during the final weekend of the General Election campaign on June 3, 2017 in Nottingham, England. If elected in next week's general election Mr Corbyn is pledging to create a million new jobs and to scrap zero-hours contracts
Getty Images
41/47 1 June 2017
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party leader Ruth Davidson joins a selection of Scottish Conservative election candidates and activists during campaigning on May 1, 2017 in South Queensferry, Scotland. With only seven days to go until the general election on June 8th, polls are showing the SNP out in front and the Conservatives set to close in on Labour.
Getty Images
42/47 29 May 2017
Prime Minister Theresa May canvasses in Richmond with Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith on May 29, 2017 in London, United Kingdom. After suffering defeat in the London Mayoral election Zac Goldsmith resigned over the Government's position on Heathrow expansion. He stood as an Independent but lost in a by-election to the Liberal Democrats. Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to elect a new parliament in a general election
Getty Images
43/47 22 May 2017
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron poses for a selfie taken by carer April Preston during a General Election campaign visit to the Barlow Medical Centre, in Didsbury, Manchester
Yui Mok/PA
44/47 22 May 2017
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at an election campaign event in Wrexham, Wales
Reuters
45/47 22 May 2017
Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and Labour's former deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, exit the party's general election campaign 'battle' bus as they arrive at an event in Kingston upon Hull, northern England
Getty Images
46/47 22 May 2017
Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walks with supporters between venues, before speaking again at another general election campaign event in Kingston upon Hull, northern England
Getty Images
47/47 22 May 2017
An anti-fox hunting protester is taken away and arrested by police outside the venue where Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was due to launch the Welsh Conservative general election manifesto at Gresford Memorial Hall in the village of Gresford, near Wrexham, North Wales, on May 22, 2017.
Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to elect a new parliament in a general election
AFP/Getty Images
1/47 12 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street for the 1922 committee on June 12, 2017 in London, England. British Prime Minister Theresa May held her first cabinet meeting with her re-shuffled team today
Getty Images
2/47 12 June 2017
DUP leader Arlene Foster stands alongside deputy leader Nigel Dodds as they hold a press conference at Stormont Castle as the Stormont assembly power sharing negotiations reconvene following the general election on June 12, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Discussions between the DUP and the Conservative party are also continuing in the wake of the UK general election as Prime Minister Theresa May looks to form a government with the help of the Democratic Unionist parties ten Westminster seats. Stormont and the political situation in Northern Ireland has been in limbo following the collapse of the power sharing executive due to the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme scandal which implicated the DUP
Getty Images
3/47 12 June 2017
Priti Patel, International Development Secretary leaves 10 Downing Street
Getty Images
4/47 12 June 2017
Larry the Downing Street cat runs ahead of Michael Fallon Britain's Secretary of State for Defence as he arrives for a cabinet meeting at Downing Street in London, Britain, June 12, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
REUTERS
5/47 12 June 2017
Michael Gove, Environment Secretary leaves 10 Downing Street on June 12, 2017 in London, England. British Prime Minister Theresa May held her first cabinet meeting with her re-shuffled team today
Getty Images
6/47 12 June 2017
Scottish National Party Leader Nicola Sturgeon (C) leaves after speaking to the media in Parliament Square.
Getty Images
7/47 12 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May (C, L) holds the first Cabinet meeting of her new team.
Getty
8/47 11 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May attends church in her constituency with her husband Philip May, a few days after disappointing results in a general election.
Rex Features
9/47 9 June 2017
Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn leaves Labour Party HQ this morning, following a general election yesterday. Parliament is hung, with no individual party gaining an overall majority.
Post general election reaction.
Rex
10/47 9 June 2017
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JUNE 09: DUP leader and Northern Ireland former First Minister Arlene Foster (C) holds a brief press conference with the DUP's newly elected Westminster candidates who stood in the general election
Getty Images
11/47 9 June 2017
A " Get May Out" demo took place opposite the gates of Downing Street, calling for May to resign, after the shock election results and Mays coalition with the DUP.
Rex Features
12/47 9 June 2017
A demonstrator wears a mask depicting Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May, poses with a mock gravestone bearing the words "Hard Brexit, RIP", during a protest photocall near the entrance 10 Downing Street in central London
AFP/Getty Images
13/47 9 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the Conservative Party's headquarters in London
Reuters
14/47 9 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May flanked by her husband Philip delivers a statement outside 10 Downing Street in central Londo
Getty
15/47 9 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May leaves Buckingham Palace in London the day after a general election in which the Conservatives lost their majority
Getty Images
16/47 9 June 2017
A TV cameraman watches the door of 10 Downing Street in London
Getty Images
17/47 9 June 2017
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is greeted by his Office Director Karie Murphy as he arrives at Labour Party HQ in Westminster, London, after he called on the Prime Minister to resign, saying she should 'go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country'
Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
18/47 9 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the Conservative Party's headquarters with her husband Philip in London
REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
19/47 9 June 2017
Ukip leader Paul Nuttall speaks during a press conference at Boston West Golf Club where he announced that he is standing down as party leader
Joe Giddens/PA
20/47 9 June 2017
Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, leaves the counting centre for Britain's general election with her partner Jen Wilson in Edinburgh, Scotland
REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
21/47 9 June 2017
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale celebrates with candidate for Edinburgh South Ian Murray as he retains his seat at the Meadowbank Sports Centre counting centre in Edinburgh, Scotland
Getty Images
22/47 9 June 2017
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks to the media at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, as counting is under way for the General Election
Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
23/47 9 June 2017
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson at Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh, as counting is under way for the General Election
PA
24/47 9 June 2017
Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon reacts at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland
EPA
25/47 9 June 2017
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, arrives at the Labour Party's Headquarters in London
REUTERS/Marko Djurica
26/47 9 June 2017
UKIP Leader Paul Nuttall leaves in a car following the vote count for the constituency of Boston and Skegness in Boston, England
Anthony Devlin/Getty Images
27/47 9 June 2017
British Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Theresa May speaks at the declaration at the election count at the Magnet Leisure Centre in Maidenhead, England.
Getty Images
28/47 8 June 2017
A policer officer enters a polling station in London
AP
29/47 8 June 2017
A woman leaves after casting her vote at the Hove Museum and Art Gallery near Brighton, in southern England
Getty
30/47 8 June 2017
A polling station sign is seen on a telephone box outside the polling station at Rotherwick Hall, west of London
Getty
31/47 7 June 2017
A woman walks past a general election display in the window of a betting shop in Camden on June 7, 2017 in London, United Kingdom. Britain goes to the polls tomorrow,
Getty Images
32/47 7 June 2017
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May visits Atherley Bowling Club during an election campaign visit on June 7, 2017 in Southampton, England. Britain goes to the polls tomorrow June 8 to vote in a general election.
Getty Images
33/47 6 June 2017
A supporter wears a pair of Jeremy Corbyn decorated tights at a general election campaign event in Birmingham, central England, on June 6, 2017.
Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to vote in a general election only days after another deadly terror attack in the nation's captial.
AFP/Getty Images
34/47 6 June 2017
A picture taken in London, shows election leaflets from various parties displayed ahead of the United Kingdom's general elections.
Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to vote in a general election only days after another terrorist attack on the nation's capital
AFP/Getty Images
35/47 6 June 2017
Election workers, George Gaunt and Luca Tragid deliver the first ballot boxes, on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh
AFP
36/47 6 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with Conservative party supporters during an election campaign visit to a bakery during an election campaign visit on June 6, 2017 in Fleetwood, north-west England. Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to vote in a general election only days after another terrorist attack on the nation's capital
Getty Images
37/47 5 June 2017
British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a general election campaign visit to a removals depot in Edinburgh
AFP/Getty Images
38/47 3 June 2017
Pro-Independence supporters hold a march through Glasgow
AFP/Getty Images
39/47 3 June 2017
Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigns for the upcoming general election in Beeston, Nottinghamshire
AFP/Getty Images
40/47 3 June 2017
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reacts to supporters after a rally at Beeston Youth and Community Centre as he visits the East Midlands during the final weekend of the General Election campaign on June 3, 2017 in Nottingham, England. If elected in next week's general election Mr Corbyn is pledging to create a million new jobs and to scrap zero-hours contracts
Getty Images
41/47 1 June 2017
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party leader Ruth Davidson joins a selection of Scottish Conservative election candidates and activists during campaigning on May 1, 2017 in South Queensferry, Scotland. With only seven days to go until the general election on June 8th, polls are showing the SNP out in front and the Conservatives set to close in on Labour.
Getty Images
42/47 29 May 2017
Prime Minister Theresa May canvasses in Richmond with Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith on May 29, 2017 in London, United Kingdom. After suffering defeat in the London Mayoral election Zac Goldsmith resigned over the Government's position on Heathrow expansion. He stood as an Independent but lost in a by-election to the Liberal Democrats. Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to elect a new parliament in a general election
Getty Images
43/47 22 May 2017
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron poses for a selfie taken by carer April Preston during a General Election campaign visit to the Barlow Medical Centre, in Didsbury, Manchester
Yui Mok/PA
44/47 22 May 2017
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at an election campaign event in Wrexham, Wales
Reuters
45/47 22 May 2017
Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and Labour's former deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, exit the party's general election campaign 'battle' bus as they arrive at an event in Kingston upon Hull, northern England
Getty Images
46/47 22 May 2017
Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walks with supporters between venues, before speaking again at another general election campaign event in Kingston upon Hull, northern England
Getty Images
47/47 22 May 2017
An anti-fox hunting protester is taken away and arrested by police outside the venue where Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was due to launch the Welsh Conservative general election manifesto at Gresford Memorial Hall in the village of Gresford, near Wrexham, North Wales, on May 22, 2017.
Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to elect a new parliament in a general election
AFP/Getty Images
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn dismissed the report as "another silly story from a Tory paper and anonymous source to distract from Labour's policies for the many not the few".
The news comes as Mr Corbyn has attempted to row back on comments he made to BuzzFeed News when he suggested he would stay on as party leader even if Labour suffers a landslide defeat.
Out on the campaign trail in Leamington Spa, he said: "I was elected leader of this party and I’ll stay leader of this party."
He insisted the criticism and poor poll ratings were not getting to him and he said no matter what he will be “carrying on” after the vote.
But in an interview with the BBC, Mr Corbyn attempted to claim he had never said that and the party banned a BuzzFeed News reporter from a campaign event in Manchester.
BuzzFeed News later published the recording where Mr Corbyn is heard saying he plans to stay on.
Mr Corbyn has already survived one attempt to oust him as leader, while The Independent last month revealed intentions for him to remain in post even if the party loses.
Proposed changes which are expected to be put to the party's annual conference in the autumn will lower the threshold needed for an MP to get onto the leadership ballot.
The current threshold – 20 per cent of MPs and MEPs – is currently too high for most MPs on the hard left. Mr Corbyn was only able to get onto the leadership ballot the first time in 2015 after he was lent support by moderates.
It is believed that if Mr Corbyn gets his changes through he may step down in favour of one of the new generation of his supporters, with shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey among potential contenders.
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