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Lame Duck Cameron Tells Corbyn: 'For Heaven's Sake Man, Go!'

© AFP 2023 / Oli ScarffBritish Prime Minister David Cameron (R) and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (L)
British Prime Minister David Cameron (R) and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (L) - Sputnik International
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UK Prime Minister David Cameron - having already announced his resignation - locked horns with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who lost a vote of no-confidence by his own MPs June 28, in the first Prime Minister's Question Time since the Brexit referendum.

Cameron — who was not attending the second day of the European Council summit in Brussels — was attending the first Prime Minister's Question Time since the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU on June 23. 

Both Cameron and Corbyn had backed the Remain campaign, but Corbyn has been slammed for his lackluster backing for the campaign, which saw many Labour Party strongholds vote to leave the EU.

As a result, 40 of his shadow cabinet resigned and he lost a vote of confidence by 172-40, leaving him leading a party without the support of his MPs.

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Cameron, on the other hand, had led the campaign to remain in the EU, but failed to win sufficient concessions from Brussels to convince a skeptical public that they could remain in a reformed EU. He announced his resignation the morning the referendum result was declared (June 24).

​As both men faced each other, it was Cameron who got the first dig in against Corbyn. Corbyn — referring to the referendum result — said: "The prime minister has two months left. Will he leave a one nation legacy and will that one nation legacy be the scrapping of the bedroom tax, the banning of zero hours contracts and the canceling of the cuts to Universal Credit?"

In a clear reference to Corbyn's lukewarm support for the Remain campaign — him being a lifelong Euroskeptic — Cameron said:

"We all have to reflect on our role in the referendum campaign. I know the honorable gentleman says he put his back into it. All I would say is I would hate to see him when he's not trying."

'For Heaven's Sake, Man, Go!'

When Corbyn ducked the accusation — failing completely to get a jibe in on the prime minister's resignation — and went on to slam Cameron's government over child poverty. Cameron retorted by telling MPs:

"If he's looking for excuses about why the side he and I were on about the referendum, frankly he should look somewhere else. And I have to say to the honorable gentleman, he talks about job insecurity with my two months to go, it might be in my party's interest for him to sit there, it's not in the national interest. And I would say: for heaven's sake, man, go!"

Britain's Labour party leader Ed Miliband holds his hands on his notes as he delivers a speech on international development at the Almeida Theatre, London, Sunday, April 26, 2015. Britain goes to the polls in a general election on May 7. - Sputnik International
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Corbyn is refusing to stand down as Labour leader, in spite of having lost the confidence of three quarters of his parliamentary party — leaving him unable to fill shadow cabinet posts.

He is bullishly sticking to his guns in saying he won the leadership contest with overwhelming popular support among Labour Party voters and the unions. His MPs believe he is unelectable and are calling for him to go now. 

Meanwhile, the ballot opens Wednesday (June 29) on the Conservative leadership challenge, with up to nine possible contenders, including former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May.

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