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Ex-minister Lord Warner resigns Labour whip Warner quits Labour and says party 'hasn't hope in hell'
(about 5 hours later)
Former Labour Health Minister Lord Warner has resigned the party whip in protest at the party's approach under new leader Jeremy Corbyn. Ex-Labour health minister Lord Warner has said the party doesn't have a "hope in hell" of winning power under Jeremy Corbyn after he resigned the whip in protest at the party's direction.
In his resignation letter, the peer said Labour was "no longer a credible party of government-in-waiting". The peer told the BBC Labour faced an "existential threat" and was "anything other than a government in waiting".
Mr Corbyn was "highly unlikely" to win back lost Labour voters, he wrote. He also took a swipe at the system used to elect Mr Corbyn, describing it as "bizarre and unacceptable".
Lord Warner has insisted he will not defect to another party.
Labour sources told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg the resignation was "ego-driven" and Lord Prescott said Lord Warner was "no great loss".Labour sources told BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg the resignation was "ego-driven" and Lord Prescott said Lord Warner was "no great loss".
'Making a stand'
Lord Warner served in Tony Blair's government and was made health minister in 2003, before leaving government in 2007.Lord Warner served in Tony Blair's government and was made health minister in 2003, before leaving government in 2007.
In his letter to Mr Corbyn, he wrote that he had resigned the Labour whip in the Lords and cancelled his party membership. In his resignation letter to Mr Corbyn, first reported in the Guardian, he wrote that he had resigned the Labour whip in the Lords and cancelled his party membership after concluding Mr Corbyn was "highly unlikely" to win back lost Labour voters.
"I shall not be joining any other political parties and will continue to argue for what I regard as progressive causes in both the Lords and in public. These are unlikely to be those you and your kindred spirits espouse," he said in the letter, first reported in The Guardian. "I have watched for some time the declining quality of the Labour Party's leadership but had not expected the calamitous decline achieved in 2015," he wrote.
'Declining quality'
"I have watched for some time the declining quality of the Labour Party's leadership but had not expected the calamitous decline achieved in 2015."
In a direct attack on Mr Corbyn, who won an overwhelming victory in the Labour leadership contest after the party's general election defeat, he added: "The approach of those around you and your own approach and policies is highly likely to worsen the decline in the Labour Party's credibility."In a direct attack on Mr Corbyn, who won an overwhelming victory in the Labour leadership contest after the party's general election defeat, he added: "The approach of those around you and your own approach and policies is highly likely to worsen the decline in the Labour Party's credibility."
He said he feared for Labour's future if Mr Corbyn's "supporting activists secure ever greater control of the party's apparatus and processes".He said he feared for Labour's future if Mr Corbyn's "supporting activists secure ever greater control of the party's apparatus and processes".
Lord Warner added: "Labour will only win another election with a policy approach that wins back people who have moved to voting Conservative and UKIP, as well as to the Greens and SNP. Lord Warner added: "Labour will only win another election with a policy approach that wins back people who have moved to voting Conservative and UKIP, as well as to the Greens and SNP. Your approach is highly unlikely to achieve this shift."
"Your approach is highly unlikely to achieve this shift." 'Leaving us'
Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Lord Warner suggested Labour could be out of power for 15 years without a change in direction.
"If it doesn't change itself very rapidly indeed, it hasn't a hope in hell of winning an election in 2020 or indeed in 2025," he said.
"It has to understand why a large number of people chose to vote for four other parties on 7 May. It hasn't done that re-examination. I want to try and push it to do that and I think the best way I can do that is to make a stand and leave the party."
He said he was not encouraging others to leave the party, was not joining any other party and would continue to be a "traditional, centre left" politician.
On Twitter, former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott said Lord Warner had in the past proposed charging people to use the NHS, adding: "No credibility. No great loss."On Twitter, former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott said Lord Warner had in the past proposed charging people to use the NHS, adding: "No credibility. No great loss."
And shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith suggested the peer had "been leaving us for quite a while".
"He voted with the Tories a couple of years ago, under the last Labour leadership, to privatise parts of the NHS," he told BBC 2's Newsnight. "He is somebody who has advocated charging for the NHS, charging to stay overnight....I'm not sure we will miss him too much."