by Larry Neild
LONDON, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- London Mayor Sadiq Khan joined the bitter battle over the leadership of Britain's main opposition Labour Party Sunday by saying Jeremy Corbyn should be toppled.
His first intervention in the leadership challenge comes on the eve of the dispatch of voting papers to hundreds of thousands of Labour party members across the country. They will be asked whether they want Corbyn to remain as leader or be replaced by challenger, Welsh MP Owen Smith.
Owen was one of 172 Labour MPs (Members of Parliament) who backed a vote of no confidence in Corbyn in the wake of the decision by Britain to leave the European Union. Labour officially backed the country remaining in the EU. Smith was also one of the majority of MPs who resigned from Corbyn's front bench team, leaving the leader unable to fill all of his shadow ministerial jobs in the Commons.
Opinion polls continue to predict victory for Corbyn who has widespread grassroots support.
In what is described as a dramatic intervention, Khan has urged party members to dump Corbyn describing him as a "disastrous leader who must share a large part of the blame for Britain's forthcoming exit from the EU".
Khan, elected Mayor of London in May after winning the job from the Conservative Party, says Labour faces all-but-certain defeat at the next general election without a change of leadership.
Khan described Corbyn as a principled Labour man whose ideas have brought hope to many, but says his year in charge has shown he is not up to the job and is "extremely unlikely" to lead the party back to power.
His intervention came in an article in Sunday's Observer newspaper in which he delivered a message that Khan's "the party has a duty to oust Corbyn before it is too late".
Political analysts have warned that the future of Labour could be at risk in what is a bitter battle over who runs the party, which predictions it could split into two separate factions.
Over the coming weeks up to 500,000 party members and supporters will cast their votes with the result announced at a special conference in Liverpool on September 24. That event takes place on the eve of Labour's main annual conference at the city's waterfront arena.
Writing in the Observer, Khan says: "Jeremy has already proved that he is unable to organize an effective team and has failed to win the trust and respect of the British people."
