Caerphilly MP Wayne David has called on the Labour Party to rally around its new leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was elected on September 12 with almost 60% of the vote.
The unanimous victory was met with celebration by many party supporters, but some MPs have refused to serve in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
Mr David, who served as ex-leader Ed Miliband’s Parliamentary Private Secretary and supported Andy Burnham for leader, previously said a Corbyn victory would have “dire consequences” for the Labour Party.
But, tweeting his congratulations to Mr Corbyn after the result was announced, Mr David said members and supporters must now rally behind him.
Speaking to Caerphilly Observer he said: “We must accept the clear decision of the Labour Party and its supporters and we must all rally around the party.
“I respect the decision of some former shadow ministers to stand down, but equally support those who accepted to serve in the shadow cabinet.
“It’s too early to say how successful Jeremy Corbyn will be as Labour leader, but I think it depends on whether we all rally behind him and the party.
“The first test will be the Welsh Assembly elections in May.”
Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney MP Gerald Jones, who also backed Mr Burnham, echoed Mr David’s sentiments.
On Twitter he said: “Congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn and Tom Watson our new Labour leadership. Now is the time to unite and fight the Tories.”
Mr Corbyn has used his new platform to oppose the UK Government’s Trade Union Bill, which Mr Jones labelled an “attack on workers”, and oppose £4.4bn cuts to child tax credits.
The bill would make it illegal to take strike action unless 50% of members voted in the ballot and it was backed by at least 40% of those eligible to vote.
Speaking at the TUC conference in Brighton on Tuesday September 15, Mr Corbyn labelled the UK Government “poverty deniers” in a rebuke to accusations that the new Labour leader and chancellor, John McDonnell, are “deficit deniers”.
And he used his first Prime Minister’s Questions to ask David Cameron questions sent in by members of the public.
Watch: Jeremy Corbyn’s first exchange with Prime Minister David Cameron
Hefin David, Caerphilly’s prospective Assembly candidate and current ward councillor for St Cattwg, said Mr Corbyn spoke to those affected by the UK Government cuts.
Cllr David said: “The UK Tory Government’s 40% cuts to public services are having a disastrous effect on our community in Caerphilly and across Wales and Jeremy Corbyn’s election spoke powerfully for all who are affected.
“The Labour Party will continue to provide a voice for everyone who needs help to make ends meet while looking for meaningful work, every small business owner who relies on a strong public sector to keep their business running and every employee of Wales’ schools, hospitals, councils and businesses who contribute to their local economy.”
Mr Corbyn also found support from Morgan Jones councillor James Pritchard.
Cllr Pritchard said: “So many people were attracted to Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign because he offers optimism, hope and fresh ideas for the future.
“The numbers speak for themselves. He had a massive majority and I think he offers something the country needs.
“I was attracted to the politics of socialism and he’s the embodiment of everything I believe.
“He’s got a huge mandate within the party and it would be wrong for MPs to ignore that.”
Blackwood councillor Allan Rees also voted for Mr Corbyn but said he is a bit of a “wild card”.
He said: “He was the only candidate who spoke with conviction – the other three spoke from a very well-rehearsed hymn sheet.”
But fellow Blackwood councillor Nigel Dix believes Mr Corbyn will fail to get elected as Prime Minister in 2020.
Cllr Dix said: “I’m not a Blairite or New Labour, but I want to get the Tories out.
“Jeremy Corbyn is out of kilter with the majority of the electorate and his own MPs.
“I don’t want the party to be in constant conflict.”
For an MP who warned Jeremy Corbyn’s election would have “dire consequences” and party supporters are “risking the party’s destruction, or turning back the clock before it’s too late,” he seems to now be a big fan.
Does this go to show Wayne David is not concerned about Labour leader so long as he has his job in politics? Surely the Liberal Democrats under Farron would be more of a home for Wayne David?
http://www.caerphillyobserver.co.uk/news/953020/caerphilly-mp-warns-against-voting-far-left-jeremy-corbyn-as-labour-leader/
Dean, I don’t think the Lib Dems would even let Wayne David defect to them. Having been reduce to a minor party they only need people with character and beliefs.
The people’s flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our martyred dead
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts’ blood dyed its every fold.
So raise the scarlet standard high,
Beneath its shade we’ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We’ll keep the red flag flying here.
Sounds like Mr David has had a visit from the reeducation team, four legs good and two legs bad and all that.
It’s fun to watch labour convulse and contort themselves into a mess. Hopefully they will sort themselves out soon enough and provide a decent opposition which is essential in adversarial system after all.
Wayne David appears to have what I have heard termed a Tofu Personality. He has no real beliefs and takes on the flavour of those around him. Completely useless individual who has done exactly nothing for Caerphilly and runs away from his electorate.
Tofu! That’s comedy.
When I suggested to Gerald Jones in July, that I and UKIP were hoping for a Corbyn victory as it would spell the end of Labour as a credible party of opposition to the Tories. He sneered and said that Labour would not never be so stupid to elect a crazy like Corbyn.
If the Labour party is to survive it has to support the leader it democratically elected. I am first, and last, a democrat, I am concerned about two elements of modern political life, number one is the low voter turnout and number two is the establishment’s habit of ignoring democracy. The latter is demonstrated in many ways, not least in the way that the unelected heads of the EU ignore referenda that do not fit their vision of a federal europe; this is why I joined UKIP who are the sole British party that support true democracy.
The democracy movement, including Chartists, Sufragettes and the early trade unions fought hard to enable the non wealthy to have a say in the running of their country. Jeremy Coryn was overwhelmingly elected by the membership of his party. He may or may not win a general election, he may not even be the leader when the election comes, but in the here and now he is the leader and any Labour politicians who find this distasteful should have the moral courage to resign and campaign for what they believe in outside of the cosy Labour movement that they have infilltrated.
You are wrongly assuming that the current breed of super labour have standards.
In the words of chopper Reid “Just because you are a character doesn’t mean you have character”.
Good analogy, the Labour party has suffered from an influx of people who do not ‘have standards’ as the Labour movement formally possessed. I was interested by a comment, from Peter Hitchens or somebody similarly unconnected with Labour, who said something like “Jeremy Corbyn would have been considered an adherent of the moderate left in the Laour party of the 1980’s.”
Corbyn is not a monster, he is not a revolutionary who threatens the British way of life, he is the democratically elected leader of Labour. This does not suit the Blairite, extremist, wing of the party and they are shown up for the totaliterian, intolerant bunch they are. I give Wayne David MP full credit for being willing to to accept democracy and a leader who does not represent the party establishment, despite the fact that Corbyn’s views do not correspond with his own.
The election of Corbyn may not be good for the Labour party, time will tell, but the members of that party have spoken and that is democracy. It is encouraging that the anti democratic ways of the European Union of the Regions have not yet totally replaced British value of actually voting for those who seek to wield power rather than the EU practise of the imposition of leaders that nobody voted for or even knew of.