Joan Ryan, MP for Enfield North since 2015, marked the eight resignation from the Labour Party in two days. Upon quitting the party she had been a member of since 1983, Mrs Ryan branded Mr Corbyn a “danger” who had introduced antisemitism within the left-wing party. Speaking about her heavy-hearted decision to leave Labour, she told The Times: “It’s obviously not a delight, it’s painful.”
Mrs Ryan shared her letter of resignation on Twitter, where she called her decision to leave Labour “terribly difficult” before announcing she is joining The Independent Group launched yesterday by the seven Labour MPs who quit their party to protest against Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
She wrote: “After 4 decades, I have made the terribly difficult decision to resign from the Labour Party.
“It is the greatest honour of my life to represent the people of #EnfieldNorth.
“I will continue to represent and speak up for them as a member of the @TheIndGroup of MPs #ChangePolitics”
The MP’s decision to join the group of rebels, formed by Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey, comes as a protest against the lack of action of Mr Corbyn against antisemitism.
Mr Corbyn, who became the leader of the Labour Party in September 2015, is accused by Mrs Ryan in her resignation letter shared on the social media platform of infecting the party with “the scourge of anti-Jewish racism”.
She wrote: “Over the past three years, the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn has become infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism.
“This problem simply did not exist in the party before his election as leader. No previous Labour leader would have allowed this huge shame to befall the party.
“I have always believed that we must be especially vigilant against the oldest hatred, history teaches us the tragic and horrific results of a failure to do so.
“I have been horrified, appalled and angered to see the Labour leadership’s dereliction of duty in the face of this evil.”
bitter divisions in the party erupted yesterday following the resignations, with many citing Mr Corbyn’s poor handling over bullying, antisemitism and Brexit as key factors in their resignations.
Monday’s resignations were the biggest mass quitting by MPs since the ‘gang of four’ left the party in 1981 to break away and create the Social Democratic Party.
The party’s deputy leader Tom Watson also waded in, claiming at times he “no longer recognises” Labour, before urging Mr Corbyn to reshuffle his front bench.
Mr Watson hoped this would bring the party back into the “mainstream”.
Corbyn-supporting Labour MP Chris Williamson told BBC2’s Newsnight he was “not entirely surprised” by Ms Ryan’s resignation from the party.
“Joan failed a vote of no-confidence by her own grassroots members at the back end of last year, so I think she was probably facing a deselection in any event,” said Mr Williamson.
“When the seven decided they were going to leave yesterday, I wasn’t entirely surprised to hear the announcement from Joan this evening.”
Asked if Labour should be in listening mode, Mr Williamson said: “We’re listening to our supporters, we’re listening to our members and we are listening to the country.
“I think it’s important to remember that the Labour Party doesn’t just exist in the Westminster village. The Parliamentary Labour Party is less than 0.04 percent of the total membership of our party.
“In my 43 years as a member of this party, I’ve never seen it more united.”
Additional reporting by Clive Hammond
