Jeremy Corbyn in crisis as 47 of his MPs including 17 frontbenchers fail to back him over Brexit by voting against Article 50 bill
JEREMY Corbyn’s leadership has been plunged into another crisis after 47 of his own MPs failed to back him over Brexit.
They ignored a three-line-whip to vote against the legislation to allow Theresa May to trigger Article 50, defying the referendum vote to leave the EU.
The rebels included 17 of Mr Corbyn’s frontbenchers, but the hapless leftie may not sack them from their roles , according to shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
When a vote is assigned a three-line-whip, the strongest possible order, any MP who goes against their party who serves as a minister or shadow minister, is normally sacked.
But Mr McDonnell said only members of Mr Corbyn's top shadow cabinet team who opposed the EU (Notification Of Withdrawal) Bill in the Commons last night will be forced to quit immediately.
And a decision on whether 10 junior shadow ministers and three whips who voted against the Bill will also have to go will not be taken until it has completed its passage through the Commons next week.
The shadow chancellor said Labour’s chief whip Nick Brown would make a report to Mr Corbyn with a recommendation as to what action should be taken.
"The parliamentary convention will apply, which is that,if you are in the cabinet or shadow cabinet, you will stand down," Mr McDonnell told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
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"For other positions that will be for the chief whip to report and that will be in due course. I am not going to pre-empt what the whip is going to recommend."
On Wednesday, shadow environment secretary Rachael Maskell announced she was resigning from the shadow cabinet to oppose the Bill.
It followed a similar move last week by shadow Welsh secretary Jo Stevens.
But while two shadow junior ministers - Dawn Butler and Tulip Siddiq - have also quit, the other rebels remain in post at least for now.
As well as 47 Labour MPs there were 50 SNP and 7 Liberal Democrats amongst those who opposed the Bill, which authorises the Government to invoke Article 50, marking the start of the formal two-year Brexit process.
He insisted that once the Bill had completed its passage through Parliament, the Labour Party would unite under Mr Corbyn's leadership while the Conservatives would disintegrate under the pressure of the divisions in their ranks.
"We may look divided at the moment because we have had to wrestle with this fact that we campaigned for Remain but now the referendum has been lost," he said.
"The irony is, when we get past Article 50 our party is capable now of uniting to make sure that we protect our country under this leader. This Tory Party will split apart."
He confirmed that Labour would not seek to obstruct the triggering of Article 50, but said that did not mean they were giving the Prime Minister a "blank cheque" in the negotiations.
"We will not oppose Article 50 going through. The real battle comes after Article 50 when the Government then has to start coming back with the details of those negotiations," he said.
"We'll be making sure we work with other political parties to prevent Theresa May's reckless Brexit she has imposed.
"We will protect jobs and the economy. That is what we will do."
The bill, after passing with a majority of 384, will now go to committee stage next week.