JEREMY CORBYN’S resolution to stand in any leadership contest despite the results of yesterday’s vote by MPs is as admirable as it is correct.

Corbyn has been placed under extraordinary pressure over the past few days because parliamentary colleagues have decided Labour should commit hara-kiri rather than seek to provide unity and leadership for a deeply divided country.

We know that the plot to oust the democratically elected party leader was hatched before the referendum, since the Telegraph reported on June 13 that MPs planned a “24-hour blitz” to topple him once it was out of the way.

While commentators such as Owen Jones believe the coup attempt is “knee-jerk,” he himself notes the careful timing of Sunday and Monday’s resignations, staggered to ensure Labour’s troubles dominated the news all day despite the momentous issues facing the country following the vote to leave the European Union.

The party should be putting pressure on a lame duck government to maximise the voice of working people in exit negotiations — a voice the Tories are determined to prevent being heard, as Sajid Javid’s disgraceful exclusion of trade unions from yesterday’s roundtable on the consequences of the vote shows.

Rebel MPs are trying to break Corbyn emotionally, shouting “resign” as he attempted to hold the Prime Minister to account in Parliament and guffawing along with the Tories at Cameron’s cheap dig about shadow cabinet resignations, when if the referendum was the real cause of their anger the PM would be their target.

And they have the temerity to accuse Monday night’s 10,000 pro-Corbyn demonstrators and hundreds of thousands of Labour members sticking up for their leader of bullying.

The response from trade unions and the left to the attempted coup has been strong and immediate, from the declaration of 12 affiliates that this was no time for a leadership contest on Friday to those union leaders speaking at or sending greetings to Monday’s demonstration.

We must ensure that resolve does not weaken in the face of MPs’ threat to make the party ungovernable if Corbyn doesn’t go.

We should see this sabotage for what it is — an Establishment revolt to cut off any possibility of a socialist government.

Some might be tempted to give in, despite being unhappy at the behaviour of the rebels, on the grounds that the party is gravely weakened by the rift between the leader and the PLP.

It is and that’s what makes the coup plotters’ actions so criminal. But Corbyn’s election was not some weird anomaly.

It was part of an anti-Establishment upsurge that is still with us.

And he was backed by so many trade unions because we realised that business as usual wasn’t an option any more: Labour was haemorrhaging support and a Tory Party determined to kill off our movement for good had just scraped a majority thanks to the bankruptcy of Blairite politics.

We do not have a hope of meeting the challenges Britain faces or delivering a future that works for our working-class communities without a radical change of political direction.

It’s that change Corbyn represents and that change MPs are seeking to suffocate, which is why even if Corbyn was replaced by someone with a leftish record, such as Lisa Nandy, his overthrow would be a shattering blow to the left.

Yesterday’s vote by MPs is a deeply distressing development among many over the last few days, but we always knew a big majority of the parliamentary party were against him.

It does not alter his mandate for leadership or the fact that Labour was on a slow train to the wilderness before his election.

His courage and principle in adversity shames his accusers. The lesson of the last few days is that Labour members and trade unionists have work to do to make the parliamentary party more representative.