Jeremy Corbyn finally says sorry for election disaster in open letter

Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to listen to Labour voters who abandoned the party in an open letter addressing his disastrous performance in the general election.

Writing in the Sunday Mirror, the Labour leader apologised for Thursday’s hammering, which saw traditional red heartlands turn blue for the first time in decades.

While allies of Mr Corbyn have blamed Brexit on Labour’s crushing defeat, other’s say the fault lies solely with the party’s leadership.

In the letter Mr Corbyn wrote: ‘We will learn the lessons of this defeat, above all by listening to lifelong Labour voters who we’ve lost in working class communities. This party exists to represent them. We will earn their trust back.’

The Labour leader has previously resisted calls to personally apologise and faced criticism for refusing to step down immediately, instead saying he will resign when a new leader is chosen next year.

He redresses that in his letter, saying he takes responsibility for the party’s worst defeat at the polls in 80 years.

The letter states: ‘I will make no bones about it.

‘The result was a body blow for everyone who so desperately needs real change in our country. And to Sunday Mirror readers, your support has been such a source of strength.

‘I’m sorry that we came up short and I take my responsibility for it.’

However he was unrepentant about the message he tried but failed to get across in his manifesto.

He said: ‘I remain proud of the campaign we fought. I’m proud that no matter how low our opponents went, we refused to join them in the gutter. And I’m proud that our message was one of hope, rather than fear.’

He also repeated his instance the election was ultimately about Brexit.

Labour MPs will be meeting with Mr Corbyn on Tuesday as the process to elect a new leader begins.

The party lost more than 50 seats to the Conservatives at the general election, allowing Boris Johnson to secure his party’s greatest victory since Margaret Thatcher triumphed at the polls in 1987.

Many have been quick to criticise Corbyn for his failure to apologise for anti-semitism and the lack of clarity of his Brexit position.

On Saturday Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell confirmed  he would quit from frontline politics and said the party must ‘move on’.

McDonnell named Labour’s shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, and shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon, as part of a ‘new generation’ who could be expected to take leading positions.

Others tipped to be in the running for the leadership race include Keir Starmer, Remainer David Lammy and shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry.

But a defiant Mr McDonnell said Mr Corbyn had been the right man to lead Labour in this election, blaming Brexit and a media smear campaign on the party’s losses.

He told the BBC: “We had a party which was largely supportive of Remain but many of us were representing Leave constituencies. We were on the horns of a dilemma.

“If we vote one way to Leave, we would have alienated a lot of our Remain support. If we went for Remain, we alienate a lot of our Leave support.”

Corbyn’s apology comes after his son’s wrote a letter slamming ‘despicable’ smears against their dad.

Tommy, Seb and Benjamin Corbyn said they were the ‘three proudest son’s on the planet’ and argued their father paid the price for being honest, humble and good-natured in the poisonous world of politics’.

As Labour’s leadership battle began, Boris Johnson visited newly elected MPs in former Labour heartlands.