Following the Brexit vote, I posed six questions. One of them was whether Labour would oust Jeremy Corbyn.
While the Brexit vote cost David Cameron his job, his resignation has made things relatively painless for the Tories at least for the moment. The same cannot be said for Labour. Over the weekend, Corbyn would sack Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn after Benn informed him he had no confidence in his ability to lead the party into a general election. Following Benn’s dismissal, most of the Labour Shadow Cabinet has resigned in protest.
Benn’s departure is not a surprise. His speech in the House of Commons last December in favor of military strikes against Syria, was in opposition to Corbyn’s position and effectively challenged his authority. The two had co-existed uneasily for the past six months and with the Brexit vote, the levee was bound to break.
Corbyn has vowed to fight on. But if Benn challenges Corbyn for the party leadership and prevails then we have a whole new match. Benn will be a far more formidable opponent for whoever succeeds Cameron at Number 10 be it Boris Johnson or anyone else. Things have only just begun to get interesting.
