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1st LD Writethru: Britain's Corbyn to face single challenger for leadership of Labour Party

Xinhua, July 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, is to face just one challenger for his job, after the withdrawal of British MP Angela Eagle on Tuesday.

The decision of Eagle left rival Owen Smith as the sole challenger to take on Corbyn.

A civil war broke out in the party when 172 Labour MPs at Westminster supported a vote of no confidence in Corbyn, who was elected last year as the leader of the party.

MPs were disappointed with his performance in the referendum campaign, with Labour officially backing the country remaining as part of the EU.

After the no-confidence vote, the party was thrown into turmoil when virtually all of Corbyn's front bench shadow cabinet team, resigned.

MPs were worried that if both Smith and Eagle went forward as challengers it would divide the vote, and pave the way for Corbyn to continue.

Eagle said Tuesday night that she had made the decision to withdraw from the race to help the Labour Party regain its place as an effective opposition to Theresa May's Conservative party.

Labour MPs held a secret ballot Monday night to choose which of the two should go forward to take on Corbyn, with Smith gaining more votes.

The two contenders, Corbyn and Smith, will now go forward to a vote among party members across the country.

Last year, Corbyn entered the leadership race as a outsider, but was swept to a massive victory by gaining around 250,000 votes, almost 170,000 votes ahead of his closest rival.

What is yet to be discovered is whether Corbyn's success of last year, with strong support from younger supporters of Labour, will back him a second time in vast numbers. Endit