Diane Abbott blames ‘sulky’ Labour MPs for Jeremy Corbyn’s useless PMQs performance
She said backbenchers sat on their hands and refused to cheer him at the despatch box
JEREMY Corbyn’s closest Commons ally has blamed “sulky” Labour backbenchers refusing to cheer for their leader for yesterday's battering at PMQs.
The hard-left leader has been blasted by his own side for his poor performance, with leadership rival Owen Smith saying he is “just not up to the job”.
But this morning Diane Abbott, who enjoyed a fling with the Labour leader in the 1970s, said it was the refusal of Labour MPs to get behind their leader hamstrung him in the Chamber.
"If Owen Smith wants Jeremy to score over Theresa May at Prime Minister's Questions he needs to talk to his colleagues," she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
"They refuse to cheer, they sit on their hands, they sulk, they chat among themselves. Some of these Labour MPs need to understand it is not about supporting Jeremy as a person, it is about going into the chamber for Prime Minister's Questions and supporting your party.
"When Theresa May came in she got huge cheers from the Tory benches. When Jeremy came in there was silence. If your own side isn't behind you, it is really difficult to hit your stride."
Ms Abbott warned that Mr Smith's history as a lobbyist for US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer would count against him when it came to the ballot of party members which will decide the leadership contest.
"There is no issue closer to party members' hearts than the NHS. I don't believe that someone whose history is having been a special adviser and a pharmaceutical company lobbyist is going to enthuse the base," she said.
"People find the link between lobbyists and politics very distasteful and having been a former pharmaceutical company lobbyist will not help Owen Smith."
Mr Smith said he was "furious" at Mr Corbyn's performance at the dispatch box.
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The Pontypridd MP told the Guardian: "I was more than frustrated: I was furious that we were sitting there with a Tory Government that has imposed swingeing cuts on public services, on tax credits, on universal credit, that have smashed women and public sector workers the length and breadth of Britain, and we are taking lectures from them about social justice and economic fairness.
"It makes my blood boil to see us so useless at saying to them, 'How dare you have the temerity to make these claims, to make these arguments?'
"Jeremy is just not up to the job of taking them on at the dispatch box. I don't think he enjoys it, I don't think he's robust enough at arguing Labour's case."
The hard-left leader was skewered by Mrs May on her debut when he asked her a question about "job security".
She joked Mr Corbyn was an "unscrupulous boss" who ignored his workers, doubled their workload and bent the rules to get ahead. The Labour leader failed to respond.
Former Tony Blair adviser Theo Bertram tweeted after PMQs: "No humour. No wit. Can't think on his feet.
"Can't do sustained questions. Utterly, utterly useless as leader of the opposition."
Mr Corbyn has lost the backing of the Parliamentary Labour Party with 80 per cent of Labour MPs supporting Mr Smith in the upcoming contest.
Labour MP Jamie Reed said last night: "If your boss hated his workforce like mine does, he'd quit."