Labour's shadow cabinet wants Jeremy Corbyn to 'retire with dignity'

Members of Labour's shadow cabinet are reportedly trying to convince Jeremy Corbyn to resign rather than being ousted in a leadership election, BBC News reports.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has suffered a loss of support from his own MPs. A vote of no confidence in the party leader was passed 172 votes to 40. But the vote doesn't mean he has to step down at all. The way a new Labour leader is chosen is by a ballot sent to Labour party members.

Members of Labour's shadow cabinet want to avoid the ugliness which would come from a coup at the top of the Labour party (just look what happened to Boris Johnson). So the plan is to ask Corbyn to step down, and to promise to keep some of his policies.

The BBC says what the Labour party is trying to do now is help Corbyn to "retire with dignity" by setting out a schedule for his resignation and also promises that some of his policies would live on. It's not clear whether Corbyn would actually take that offer, and the BBC suggests that the members of the shadow cabinet who had come up with the idea weren't allowed into his office to present it to him.