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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: I am joined by the Labour MP Tristram Hunt, a very good morning to you.  This is fast moving, first of all on Mr Corbyn, we are hearing reports that many more members of the Shadow Cabinet may resign, surely he must read the writing on the wall?

TRISTRAM HUNT: I hope Jeremy does reflect on the lack of confidence in his leadership  from Shadow Cabinet colleagues who have worked with him over the last nine months, week in and week out and have come to the conclusion that the job description of the leader of the Opposition has changed.  We are in a period of national crisis and the role of the Labour party leader now is to make sure in really forensic detail we hold the government to account over their Brexit plans, we ensure that Labour values about workers protection and pay and wages and the things we value for our communities are there in the renegotiation and for someone to do that you don’t need a great protestor, you don’t need someone out marching all day, what you need is someone with control of the detail, a sense of strategy and I think Shadow Cabinet colleagues have come to the conclusion that Jeremy, for his many strengths, has not got that.

DM: But there is even more than that, isn’t there?  There could be a general election coming down the line this year, there is a huge prize to aim at.  You talk about being in a position to hold the government to account, if you get your act together as a party you could be the government.

TRISTRAM HUNT: I think that is a very powerful point and what we’ve seen in new polling today is that one third of people who voted for the Labour party in 2015 have now walked away from the party so if we as a Labour party want to be in a competitive position for an upcoming general election, Jeremy is not the man to lead us into that.  Again, he has many strengths but few of us see him on the steps of Downing Street leading a Labour government.  The Labour party is divided, for better, for worse and what we now need at the top is a Labour team that can bring all wings of the party together to lead us either into a general election in which we unite the party or have a really effective leader of the opposition who can hold the government to account.  

DM: You need that policy mix don’t you? You need that leader and the team to address the concerns that have been expressed now in a general election, in a referendum, from Labour voters, former Labour voters, to address those concerns.  Now currently you seem to be a prisoner of those that elected Jeremy Corbyn but it doesn’t change though does it because you can’t change those leadership election rules.  

TRISTRAM HUNT: Well what we saw yesterday was a vote of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn by the Wrexham constituency Labour party, what we’re seeing from our in-boxes is lots of Labour members who are passionate about Europe, who are very upset that we have left Europe and do hold the leadership accountable for their failure to mobilise the Labour vote.  Jeremy told us when he was running for the leadership that he could reach deep into our communities, into heartland Labour areas and inspire them and what this referendum shows is that he was unable to do that.  He even failed to visit the north-east during the referendum so that Sunderland result, he bears some of the responsibility for that and he needs to be held to account for that but also we need to think about the person we want in the future, leader of the opposition and taking us into a general election.

DM: Could that be you?  I mean you thought very deeply, I’ve been reading some of the stuff you’ve been writing, you’ve been thinking very deeply about those Labour voters you’ve lost and indeed about addressing – as Tony Blair did – those people who have never voted for the party before.  Can you ever see the party getting back into that position and could you be the man to do it?

TRISTRAM HUNT: I won’t be the man to do it, I think that …

DM: Are you ruling yourself out?.

TRISTRAM HUNT: Yes, I do think we can get back into that position with a Labour team and what I’m scared about is that if Jeremy Corbyn is sacking in the middle of the night someone as respected, in the mainstream of the party as Hilary Benn and Heidi Alexander, again from the soft left of the party, is thinking that she needs to leave, well I don't think Jeremy is the man to bring the Labour team together.  Frankly I don't think he will have enough Members of Parliament to run a front bench, I don't think he will have the support here in Westminster to propose an alternative government and what I hope he does is not put his own vanity and ego in front of the party and think very carefully what the party needs.

DM: Would you go further, Mr Hunt, and say this is the last chance really for the party to hold together as it is?  If those around Mr Corbyn, if he himself digs in and you were saying yesterday that if you do get him out he will just stand again, but even if he does go and go for good there might be somebody who thinks exactly like Jeremy Corbyn elected again by the current membership.  At that point doesn’t the Labour party have to split?

TRISTRAM HUNT: I don’t want the Labour party to split, I love the Labour party and split parties do not win elections, do not represent their communities.  What I think is that Labour members need to think about Labour voters and the need of communities like Stoke on Trent and Sunderland and Hartlepool and as a result of that we’re definitely going to need a new Labour leadership because Jeremy, for his many strengths, hasn’t got those skills either to take us into European renegotiation or into a general election.  If Jeremy does lead us into the general election I fear for the future of the party.

DM: But it’s not just about skills is it, it is of course about policies and we’ve been skirting around it but the message came loud and clear from so many people in the United Kingdom that one of our biggest fears and concerns is about immigration and Jeremy Corby stood up there, he stood up there yesterday and said look, we will not stop, we cannot stop, we do not want to stop immigration.  

TRISTRAM HUNT: I don't think it was damaging four days before polling day for Jeremy to say there should be no upper limit on immigration, to say he was just as happy to have French nurses and Spanish nurses as British nurses.  Of course we value all of those who come to our country and make a contribution but we also know that immigration policy has affected the lowest paid in very harsh circumstances so in my community in Stoke on Trent I heard week in, week out concerns about immigration and a failure by the Labour party to address it and that does need policy shift.  

DM: Tristram Hunt,  thank you very much indeed.