The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party says a reshuffle of his top team has brought the unity needed to “win elections and change our country for the better” - but he faces a struggle to convince his own lawmakers.
Some Labour MPs say this month’s changes by Jeremy Corbyn have merely deepened divisions and herald the start of a battle over national security that could tear the party apart and leave it out of power for more than a decade.
After days of what some aides said were difficult talks, Corbyn sacked two top-ranking officials for disloyalty and moved his defence spokeswoman to another role, bringing in a lawmaker who shares his opposition to nuclear weapons.
With security now taking centre stage, the reshuffle was seen as the first move in a fight over whether to renew the Trident submarine programme - Britain’s sole nuclear weapons system - which a Labour government won parliamentary support for in 2007.
A battle for the soul of Britain’s Labour Party seems to have entered a new phase.
Corbyn believes the cost of renewing and maintaining Trident, which Reuters puts at more than $234bn over 32 years, is too much and the money could be better spent. But many in his party think Britain cannot unilaterally disarm in an increasingly hostile world.
The veteran left-wing and anti-war activist was elected on a groundswell of desire for change among Labour’s grass-root members in September following a heavy election defeat. Since then, his followers in the party, often holding more radical views than their elected representatives in parliament, have clashed with some Labour lawmakers.
Break From Blair
Corbyn’s election as leader represented a sharp break from the legacy of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who shifted Labour from its left-wing roots to the political centre. He took a party that had been out of office for almost two decades to three straight election victories after becoming leader in 1994.
Blair quit in 2007 and Labour - dogged by criticism and internal soul-searching over its participation in the US-led invasion of Iraq and its handling of the economy during the Blair years - lost the next two elections.
Now Corbyn’s push to turn Labour more to the left is exposing its faultlines.
The reshuffle, in which Corbyn sacked McFadden and Michael Dugher, former spokesman for culture, media and sport - both more centrist politicians - triggered several resignations among junior members of his team.
