LONDON: Britain’s two main parties were in open conflict on Sunday after a vote to leave the EU triggered an attempted “coup” in the main opposition Labour Party and a bitter leadership contest in the ruling Conservatives.

Both parties are reeling from the referendum result, when British voters rejected the arguments of their leaders and decided to leave the European Union in a vote which underscored the deep divisions in the country.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will resign — prompting a fierce battle to replace him — and several Labour lawmakers quit the party’s top policy team to try to force their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, from office.

Cameron has said he will stay on in his post until October to try to help reassure the public and markets, but his decision to announce his resignation immediately after the vote has unsettled those who campaigned to leave the European Union.

They say they will wait until a new Eurosceptic leader is in place before triggering the process to leave the bloc as leading Conservatives jockey to take the mantle.

Former London mayor Boris Johnson, whose support for the leave camp galvanised the “Out” campaign, is favourite to replace Cameron but media have reported that there is a group of pro-Cameron lawmakers looking for “anyone but Boris”.

Foreign Minister Philip Hammond ruled himself out of the contest, but said: “It’s got to be somebody who can unite the Conservative Party ... but it’s also got to be somebody with a credible strategy for dealing ... with the challenge of negotiating an exit from the European Union without destroying our prosperity in the process.”

Labour disarray

The deep divisions in Labour were also blown into the open when Corbyn sacked his foreign affairs policy chief, Hilary Benn, overnight because, as his spokesman said on Sunday, “he has lost confidence in him”.

A growing number of Labour lawmakers have called on Corbyn to resign in the aftermath of the vote to leave the EU. Some party members say he failed to assuage concern among the party’s traditional supporters; others that he should have campaigned more in favour of EU membership.

Two Labour politicians have submitted a motion of no confidence in Corbyn, which will be debated later this week.

Benn challenged Corbyn over his leadership, saying many lawmakers in the party had “no confidence in our ability to win the next election, which may come much sooner than expected”.

Several members of Corbyn’s ‘shadow cabinet’ — top policy chiefs who hold portfolios mirroring those of the government — resigned in protest at his leadership and others were set to follow.

But Corbyn, who was elected last year on a wave of enthusiasm for change among thousands of new, young Labour members, was “not going anywhere”, said his finance spokesman, John McDonnell.

“I know how disappointed people are about the loss of the European referendum, but now is the time we hold together.”

Kerry heads to London

US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed regret on Sunday that Britain has chosen to leave the European Union and vowed Washington will maintain close ties with the bloc.

Kerry, who flies to Brussels and London on Monday for crisis talks with EU and British leaders, said the ideal of unity must remain paramount as Britain negotiates Brexit.

“An EU united and strong is our preference for a partner to be able to work on the important issues that face us today,” Kerry told reporters during a visit to Rome.

“One country has made a decision, obviously it’s a decision that the United States had hoped would go the other way,” he said, alongside Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

“The vote about Brexit and the changes that are now being thought through have to be thought through in the context of the interests and values that bind us together with the EU.” Gentiloni said Brexit demonstrated the need for the EU to change.

“We are working to relaunch the Union in light of the decision by the British electorate.

“Our historic friendship with Britain and our alliance through Nato are not up for discussion.The challenge we have before us is to translate a crisis into an opportunity by turning a difficult moment into the occasion to relaunch the EU.”

Washington was dismayed last week when British voters chose to leave Europe, a decision that triggered global economic uncertainty and fears other EU members will follow suit.

But Kerry said he had no doubt that Europe would pull together and reassure the markets, noting that even without Britain the EU single market counts 455 million consumers.

President Barack Obama had also made clear his concern about the referendum, and now US officials are scrambling to try to stop the political crisis harming Western unity.

Kerry arrived in Rome on Sunday on a planned visit to have lunch with Gentiloni and a working dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But officials on his flight said that on Monday he would fly on to EU headquarters in Brussels to meet EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

From Brussels, Kerry will continue to London to see Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other officials from outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government.

Hammond and Kerry are expected to hold a joint news conference before Kerry leaves to return to Washington.

Obama and Kerry have been at pains to insist the vaunted “special relationship” between Washington and London will survive what US officials view as the Brexit debacle.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2016