The British government has launched an investigation into whether senior officials told reporters that they think Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is unable to become the country’s new PM due to poor health.
The BBC quoted outgoing UK Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman as saying that if identified, those responsible for the claims would face “disciplinary action”.
The news outlet also cited sources in the Labour Party as rejecting the measures as “inadequate”, adding that a full-blown independent probe is needed.
This follows a recent report by The Times in which anonymous civil servants were quoted as saying that “there is a real worry that the Labour leader [Corbyn] isn’t up to the job physically or mentally but is being propped up by those around him”.
They claimed that “there’s growing concern that he’s too frail and is losing his memory; he’s not in charge of his own party”.
Downing Street responded by saying that it is “unacceptable and inappropriate” for any civil servant to make such allegations, with Theresa May slamming the claims as “unacceptable”.
Labour MP Laura Pidcock, for her part, blamed senior officials for trying to “sew doubt” about Corbyn, claiming that there was "a fear of the Labour agenda" among them.
Right now, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt remain the two main hopefuls to replace May who announced a month ago that she was stepping down over the failure of her Brexit deal.
