Jeremy Corbyn supporters dismiss Sadiq Khan's criticisms

Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn have dismissed criticisms by Sadiq Khan after the London mayor urged Labour party members to ditch their leader and back his rival, Owen Smith, instead.

In a stinging attack in the Observer, Khan said Corbyn had failed to win the trust of voters and that Labour was extremely unlikely to secure a return to power as long as he remained leader.

In response, a spokesman for Corbyn’s campaign implied that Khan won the mayoralty in May because he stood on a Labour platform with the MP for Islington North and as a result won votes from many of Corbyn’s supporters.

The party is preparing to send out 500,000 ballot papers on Monday to members who will decide whether Corbyn remains leader or if Smith, the former shadow welfare secretary, will take over. The result will be announced next month.

Corbyn remains the favourite, and has overwhelming support among Labour’s members and trade unions. However, he is opposed by a majority of Labour’s MPs, who have focused on his lacklustre EU referendum campaign as proof that he is an electoral liability.

“Sadiq Khan is entitled to his opinion. But he won the London mayoralty, as others have pointed out, by standing on a Labour platform under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, backed by the huge numbers who have joined our party to support Jeremy and now campaign for Labour,” Corbyn’s campaign spokesman said.

The spokesman added that Corbyn had defended Khan during the mayoralty campaign in the Commons at prime minister’s questions when David Cameron accused him of having links with extremists.

“Jeremy campaigned alongside Sadiq and defended him from the despatch box in PMQs, and helped deliver the London, Liverpool, Salford and Bristol mayoralties for Labour.

“Jeremy Corbyn is the only candidate who offers a genuine break from the approach that led us to two successive election defeats, so that we can rebuild and transform Britain, and so no one and no community is left behind,” the spokesman continued.

One trade union ally of the Labour leader described Khan’s intervention as disappointing, and said Labour members in the capital would feel let down by his actions.

Matt Wrack, the leftwing general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union and a strong supporter of Corbyn, said Khan’s comments were “a little bit disappointing but possibly no great surprise”.

“Sadiq comes from that part of the Labour party that was in government under Blair and Brown,” Wrack told BBC News.

“It is disappointing nevertheless. Jeremy Corbyn gave full support for Sadiq in his campaign for mayor, as did a number of unions including my own. Sadiq hasn’t consulted us or Labour party members across London about this latest statement. I think a lot of people will be quite let down by that,” he said.

While Corbyn is a “principled Labour man” whose ideas have brought hope to many, Khan said that his year in charge had shown he was not up to the job and would be extremely unlikely to lead the party back to power.

The former MP for Tooting focused on Corbyn’s lack of support for a pro-EU message – in effect, laying much of the blame for Brexit at Corbyn’s door and that of his advisers.

“Throughout the campaign and aftermath, Jeremy failed to show the leadership we desperately needed. His position on EU membership was never clear – and voters didn’t believe him. A third of Labour voters said they did not know where the party stood on the referendum just a week before polling day,” Khan said.

Corbyn will address a rally of supporters in Kilburn, north-west London, on Sunday night.