Jeremy Corbyn was forced to angrily deny he voted for the UK the leave the European Union by his challenger to be the next Labour leader.
During an ill-tempered debate at Glasgow’s SECC, Owen Smith launched a series of highly personal attacks on the man he wants to replace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiVut7S6dFg
Noise levels soared amongst the 400-strong crowd when the subject turned to June’s referendum.
Mr Smith said: “The reason I think Jeremy can be so complacent and passive about this is he’s happy with the result.”
He added: “I’m not even sure Jeremy did vote remain.”
Trying to make himself heard over the noise, Mr Corbyn hit back saying he thought the two candidates “were going to be grown up” during the debate.
He said: “Owen, you know perfectly well what the answer is. I voted remain and I am very surprised and disappointed you raised that question.”
Earlier during the contest, during which moderator Lindsay McIntosh of The Times and Mr Smith made multiple appeals for calm, Labour was accused of going “backwards in Scotland” under Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
The party were overtaken by the Conservatives and Mr Smith was jeered as he went on to praise Kezia Dugdale, the leader of the Scottish Party in charge of delivering the manifesto and campaign, for doing a “good job”.
He told Mr Corbyn: “We have gone backwards in Scotland on your watch. You were meant to be winning Scotland back on the basis of being more radical.
“People in Scotland cannot look to Labour in Westminster right now and anticipate us winning a general election, therefore we are ill serving the Scottish Labour Party and we are ill serving the people of Scotland.”
Both candidates warned against the prospect of Labour splitting after the election, something which has been mooted if Mr Corbyn wins the contest when the result is announced at next month’s party conference in Liverpool.
Mr Corbyn said: “It’s an enormous honour to be selected and elected as a Labour Member of Parliament.
“You have a huge responsibility to the community that has elected you and the party that has selected you and put you there so the idea, as happened with the SDP in the 1980s, that you could walk away into the arms of wealthy donors and set up some other organisation is a complete and utter anathema to me.”
