Jeremy Corbyns visit to Londons Pride 2016 festival was marked by heckling over Labours failure to mobilise the partys supporters in the north of England and Wales in the weeks leading up to the Brexit vote. As he arrived at the march he was confronted by an angry protester, who accused the Opposition leader of failing considerably to get enough Labour voters to the polling booths on 23 June.
Tom Mauchline can be heard telling Corbyn: Its your fault Jeremy. I had a Polish friend in tears because you couldnt get the vote out in Wales, the north and the Midlands.
You ran on a platform of mobilising the north and working class votes, and youve failed considerably, he added. Stop using the gay movement as a shield to protect your weak leadership.
Corbyn said: I did all I could, in reply.
Speaking to the Press Association after the exchange, Mauchline said: I didnt come here intending to do this. I didnt know he was going to be there. We were given 15 minutes notice that he was coming and it made me so angry. It just seemed like a cynical attempt to use the LGBT community to shore up his weak leadership.
Corbyn has come under pressure in the wake of the EU referendum result, with many feeling that his performance in the campaign was uninspiring. Following the outcome of the vote, Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey submitted a vote of no confidence in him.
The result of the referendum was a disastrous result for us and the leadership must bear a share of the responsibility for that, Coffey told BBC News. It was a lacklustre campaign, it didnt contain a strong enough message and the leader himself appeared half-hearted about it.
If you have got a leader who appears half-hearted, you can hardly be surprised if the public feels the same way, added Coffey.
Despite the calls for him to step down as Labour leader, Corbyn insisted he would not cave in and cited a petition calling on him to stay in his post, which had attracted close to 150,000 signatures by the time of publication.
Yes, there are some people in the Labour party, and the parliamentary Labour party in particular, who probably want someone else to be the leader of the Labour party. I think theyve made that abundantly clear, said Corbyn. What Im totally amazed by is that 140,000 people have said they do not want the party to spentd the next two months debating the leadership of the party. They want the party to get on the front foot, and get out there, he added.
When Corbyn was asked whether he would run again in the event of another leadership contest, he said: Yes, Im here, thank you.
If parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) chairman, John Cryer accepts the motion of no confidence, it will lead to a secret ballot among Labour MPs, although it would not be binding.
