In a letter published on twitter Whitehead told Corbyn he was a “good, decent, committed person” but said he was “unfortunately not the right person to lead the opposition”.
Whitehead was appointed by Corbyn as the shadow energy minister in September 2015, something for which he said he was “very grateful”.
“You will know that I have spent many years championing action to combat climate change and promote low-carbon energy, as have you,” he said. “And it was a pleasure being able to pursue these objectives on behalf of your frontbench team.”
“However,” he concluded, “thinking as I do, I cannot give you complete loyalty in this position and it would be dishonest of me to continue to occupy it”. Whitehead pleaded with Corbyn to “seriously consider” his position as party leader.
Yesterday Lisa Nandy quit her post as shadow energy secretary whilst Rachel Maskell was appointed as the new shadow environment secretary after her predecessor, Kerry McCarthy, resigned over the weekend.
A flurry of resignations, currently totalling more than 40, followed the reported sacking of shadow foreign secretary Hillary Benn in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Alan Whitehead is speaking at the Utility Week Energy Summit on 5 July in Westminster. For more information, visit: www.uw-energysummit.net