Former Labour MP for Don Valley Caroline Flint hit out at Ken Livingstone’s “denial” over why voters chose not to support Labour last week. She said senior Labour members are blaming everyone else. Ms Flint, who lost her seat after 22 years, explained Labour will only win elections when they have a leader the public believe in.
Speaking on ITV, Ms Flint said: “The denial that people like Ken express about anti-Semitism, about the fact people didn’t buy into the Corbyn project, the politics is, to be honest, a classic response of those on the left-wing of our party when they want to try and put the blame on everybody else.
“Blame the media, blame the establishment, blame this, blame that, blame the other.
“The truth is that Labour wins elections when we’ve got a leader people believe in and a vision that people can buy into.
“We’ve done that successfully in the past and clearly we’re not going it now.”
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Mr Livingstone disagreed as he previously said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had been working on getting anti-Semites out of the party.
Their clash comes as Ms Flint revealed how she personally feels after losing her seat.
Piers Morgan asked: “You looked quite emotional yesterday, you’re holding it together today but underneath you’re very wounded and sad about this.
“How do you feel personally about losing your job and seat in Parliament over something that was out of your control?”
Ms Flint’s latest intervention came after she was embroiled in a row with shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry over claims the Corbyn ally described voters in the north “stupid”.
Ms Thornberry, who is believed to be eyeing a bid to succeed Mr Corbyn, was forced to deny the “total and utter lie” on Sunday and was understood to be consulting lawyers.
Ms Flint, who lost her seat in the former stronghold of Don Valley during the catastrophic election for Labour, claimed Ms Thornberry had told a colleague: “I’m glad my constituents aren’t as stupid as yours.”
The row came as shadow chancellor John McDonnell tried to take the flak for the defeat, saying “I own this disaster”, and as Mr Corbyn also apologised for Labour’s worst result since 1935.
