Jewish Labour Official Joins Effort To Oust Jeremy Corbyn After Brexit Debacle
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Luciana Berger, a senior Jewish member of Britain’s Labour Party, has resigned her post in the party’s so-called shadow cabinet and joined an effort to oust Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the the country’s main opposition party.
Berger wrote that it was with “deep sadness” that she quit as shadow mental health minister, joining more than half the members of Corbyn’s inner circle who are demanding his head after Britons voted to leave the European Union.
I have spoken to Jeremy today and it is with great sadness that I have stood down from his Shadow Cabinet. pic.twitter.com/YRYiu7HRd0
— Luciana Berger (@lucianaberger) June 27, 2016
Many Labour Party activists believe Corbyn ran a lackluster campaign for Britain to remain in the EU and leaders want a new leader to battle the ruling Conservatives as they face a leadership crisis of their own after the Brexit vote and resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron.
“I have always served the Labour Party and our leader with loyalty. Having listened closely to local party members, loyalty to the party must come first,” Berger in her resignation letter to party head Jeremy Corbyn. “You have shown me nothing but kindness, but we need a leader who can unite party.”
Some 32 members of the shadow cabinet, or more than half its members, quit Monday in a revolt against Corbyn’s leadership.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who tendered his resignation effective in the fall following the referendum result last week to leave the European Union, told the House of Commons on Monday afternoon that the result was not the one he wanted but that he and his Cabinet have agreed it will be respected.
In his statement, Cameron added that hate crimes and attacks on foreigners must be stamped out.
“These people have come here and made a wonderful contribution,” he said.—With JTA
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