Tuesday 28 June 2016

51 Not 172 Is The Not-So-Magic Number

Just to clear up any confusion: 172 Labour MPs have voted in a secret ballot that they have no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party. 40 voted against the motion and presumably have full confidence in Jeremy. This vote will be reported on the BBC and in the papers but actually is meaningless in terms of the Party's rules of bringing about a change of leadership.

In order to trigger a leadership election two things have to happen. First you need a named candidate. Second you need 51 MP's signatures in support of that candidate. If both of those things happen then we have another leadership election, with the same stipulations as we did when Ed resigned after the General Election - Get 35 MPs to nominate and then you're on the ballot.

There is no named candidate and  there are no signatures, so - at the risk of repeating yesterday's Facebook post - we really should be concentrating on the job of holding the hapless Tories to account and shaping a fairer, more equal post-Brexit UK.

1 comment:

Maximarx said...

Just found your blogspot, Liam. Thanks for your measured comment. In times like these we need some reassurance that the members' who are supporting JC are listened to at least in some quarters.