TRIPLE TROUBLE
Jeremy Corbyn in crisis as TWO Ex-Labour MPs back Boris Johnson after Tom Watson quits as deputy
JEREMY Corbyn is in crisis today as TWO ex-Labour MPs urge voters to back Boris Johnson - hours after Deputy leader Tom Watson quit the party.
Ian Austin has branded the Labour boss “completely unfit” to be PM while John Woodcock also threw his support behind the Tory leader.
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It comes as...
- Boris is on a whistle-stop of tour of the UK - with trips to the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland
- Sajid Javid promised to rip up Tory spending rules to splurge an extra £20billion a year investing in Britain's schools and hospitals
- John McDonnell vowed to break up the Treasury and move it to the North if Labour wins power
- Follow the action with our live blog
NOT FIT TO BE PM
Mr Austin, 54, who represented the seat of Dudley , quit the party in February over its anti-semitism scandal and felt Labour drift further towards the extreme left.
Jeremy Corbyn is an extremist. He’s allowed the Labour Party to be poisoned by extremism and racism, he supported terrorism,
Ian Austin
Mr Austin told : “Jeremy Corbyn is an extremist who is completely unfit to run the country, I wouldn’t say Boris Johnson is unfit to run the country.
He added: "Jeremy Corbyn is an extremist. He’s allowed the Labour Party to be poisoned by extremism and racism, he supported terrorism, he can’t be trusted with our defence and he always picks the wrong side.”
WOODCOCK BACKS BORIS
Mr Woodcock and Mr Austin blasted the Labour boss at the launch of a poster attacking his campaign to be PM.
The poster states: "Jeremy Corbyn: A disgrace to his party, a disgrace to this country."
Mr Woodcock, who represented Barrow and Furness, quit the Labour party earlier this year but chose not to stand in the election as his partner is having a baby.
He has since been made the government’s czar to tackle violent extremism.
The choice to keep Jeremy Corbyn away from Downing Street, to stop him getting his hands on the levers of national security and defence has to be to vote Conservative.
John Woodcock
Mr Woodcock said: "There are one of two people who are going to be prime minister after an election. It is Boris Johnson or it is Jeremy Corbyn."
"We pleaded with our friends in the Labour Party to face up to this choice, not to leave it until too late.
“Now all of that to an extent is water under the bridge, but we have arrived in a campaign where one of two people are going to be prime minister."
He continued: "The choice to keep Jeremy Corbyn away from Downing Street, to stop him getting his hands on the levers of national security and defence has to be to vote Conservative in this election and that's what I'll be doing as well."
TOM WATSON QUITS
The comments come after deputy leader Mr Watson sensationally quit as an MP last night.
Mr Watson, who has represented West Bromwich since 2001, said: “The decision is personal, not political."
He made the shock move after finding himself in a vulnerable position after repeated clashes with hard-left supporters of Mr Corbyn.
It culminated with the cabal trying to remove him in an attempted coup - which he described as a "drive-by shooting".
BORIS JOHNSON IS A 'PATRIOT'
Mr Austin said he was not a supporter of the Tory party – but added that Mr Johnson was a “patriot” and in contrast Mr Corbyn was someone who has “sided with our country’s enemies.”
However, he added that Mr Corbyn was not the only dangerous figure in the Labour party’s ranks.
Mr Austin also said Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was an “extremist who spent the 1980s supporting the IRA”.
He also blasted Labour chiefs' attitude to Britain’s wealthy, adding: “I think they regard wealth as a problem and people who create it as the enemy.”
However, his greatest concern is the antisemitism scandal that has engulfed the party.
I think they regard wealth as a problem and people who create it as the enemy
Ian Austin
Mr Corbyn's leadership has been dogged by an ongoing row among activists and officials of the Labour Party over alleged bullying and abuse to Jewish members.
It culminated in Scotland Yard launching a criminal investigation into alleged hate crimes - and seven MPs quitting in protest at the failure to tackle the problem.
While today the leading Jewish newspaper the Jewish Chronicle urged Brits not to vote for Labour and slammed Mr Corbyn as an “anti-Semite”.
Mr Austin’s adoptive father Fred Austin arrived in Britain as a 10-year-old Jewish refugee from Czechoslovakia in 1939.
He escaped death in a concentration camp after his mother and sisters put him on a train to safety. They tragically were killed at the Treblinka camp.
Treacherous hypocrite Ian Austin calling for a Tory vote in the general election is no surprise.
Len McCluskey
Mr Austin said that while his decision to quit was the party upset him – he could now “look my Jewish friends in the eye, I could look my Dad in the eye.”
However, the former MP has been blasted by Corbyn ally and union chief Len McCluskey who called him a ";treacherous hypocrite".
The Unite general secretary said: "Treacherous hypocrite Ian Austin calling for a Tory vote in the general election is no surprise. He turned his back on Labour values many, many years ago."
MOST READ IN POLITICS
Tory Minister Rishi Sunak described Mr Austin commentys as a “truly devastating indictment of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership”.
He added: “This comes straight after the party’s second most powerful person quit because he could no longer support Corbyn, in another hammer blow to his authority.
“Corbyn’s MPs are saying what we all know – he is unfit to be Prime Minister.”
Ex-Labour, now independent MP, Ian Austin, urges Labour voters to support Boris Johnson as Jeremy Corbyn is 'unfit to lead our country'
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