Richard Burgon says Jeremy Corbyn would be three years into government if not for 'disloyal and disgraceful' Labour MPs
4 min read
Jeremy Corbyn would have spent the past three years as prime minister if not for the "disloyalty and disgraceful behaviour" of Labour MPs who challenged his leadership, Richard Burgon has claimed.
The Labour deputy leadership hopeful - who has vowed to continue Mr Corbyn's legacy if he wins the battle for the post - took a swipe at the Parliamentary Labour Party as he insisted he would be loyal to Sir Keir Starmer if the Shadow Brexit Secretary clinches the top job.
And he invited former prime minister Tony Blair to study "for free" at a new Tony Benn School of Political Education he is proposing if he becomes deputy leader.
Mr Corbyn lost a vote of no confidence lodged by Labour MPs by 172-40 in 2016. But he fought on as leader, declaring the vote to have no "constitutional legitimacy" and going on to win a decisive victory against leadership challenger Owen Smith.
Mr Burgon, who described himself as "certainly" a "Continuity Corbyn" candidate, said Labour would have clinched victory in the 2017 general election if not for that chain of events.
"If it hadn't have been for the disloyalty and disgraceful behaviour by members of the Parliamentary Labour Party in 2016 we'd be three years into a Labour government now," he told the Andrew Marr show.
"Three years into scrapping tuition fees. Three years into people getting paid ten pound an hour minimum wage. Three years into building 100,000 council homes a year.
"So responsibility, I have to say, does rest with them in relation to unnecessary behaviour."
But that prompted an angry pushback from Labour MP Neil Coyle, one of those who voted to oust Mr Corbyn in 2016.
The Bermondsey and Old Southwark MP told PoliticsHome: "Burgon propped up a man the public told us routinely they did not want to be Prime Minister.
"Corbyn had worse ratings than any former leader, divided the Party, failed to tackle antisemitism, and took Labour to our worst defeat.
"Burgon supported Corbyn through it all and is now desperately flailing around in a blame game trying to justify the damage he did to our party."
'CLOSE TO WINNING'
The Shadow Justice Secretary, who ranked second behind Angela Rayner in the latest poll of Labour members for the site LabourList, also urged the party not shift to the centre under its next leader, as he blamed its 2019 "devastating" defeat on Brexit and the "right-wing press upping its game at demonising Jeremy".
He said: "In 2017 we had a socialist leader, Jeremy, the manifesto of socialist policies and we came close to winning. We came to close to winning, it was an electoral advance if only we'd have won.
"In 2019, same leader, manifesto of socialist policies and we got smashed. It was a devastating defeat. And what changed in those two years was the Brexit issue and also I think the right-wing press upping its game at demonising Jeremy."
But Mr Burgon, who is backing Rebecca Long-Bailey for the leadership, vowed to serve any of the three leadership candidates if he becomes deputy, saying he would be "laser-focused on getting them into Number 10 Downing Street".
"I'd be loyal to Keir Starmer, loyal to Lisa Nandy, loyal to Rebecca Long-Bailey," he said.
"But I'd be loyal to he Labour party members. I'll be a voice in the Shadow Cabinet and hopefully in the Cabinet for Labour members and trade unions."
The Labour deputy leadership hopeful this week pitched new Tony Benn School of Political Education if elected to the post, as part of a wider push to build "widespread support for alternative ideas"
Asked whether Tony Blair could teach at at the school named after the veteran left-wing backbencher, he told the Andrew Marr show: "He'd be welcome to come and learn at the college if he liked."
And, in a fresh swipe at the three-term Labour prime minister, Mr Burgon said: "I know that Tony Blair introduced tuition fees. He could come and study for free at the Tony Benn School of Political Education."
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