UK Labour leader: Jeremy Corbyn elected with huge mandate

UK Labour leader: Jeremy Corbyn elected with huge mandate

Postby Oscar » Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:12 pm

Labour leadership: Jeremy Corbyn elected with huge mandate

[ http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... MP=ema_565 ]

Election of backbench MP and anti-war campaigner means party now has one of the most leftwing, anti-establishment leaders in its history

Reaction to result: live updates 0:00/0:49 - Watch the moment Jeremy Corbyn is elected as Labour leader

Rowena Mason Political correspondent Saturday 12 September 2015 13.27 BST Last modified on Saturday 12 September 2015 18.14 BST

Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the British Labour party, in a stunning first-round victory that dwarfed even the mandate for Tony Blair in 1994.

He won with nearly 59.5% of first-preference votes, beating rivals Andy Burnham, who trailed on 19%, and Yvette Cooper who received 17%. The “Blairite” candidate Liz Kendall came last on 4.5%. Labour frontbenchers rule out serving in Corbyn's shadow cabinet

Minutes after his victory, Corbyn said the message is that people are “fed up with the injustice and the inequality” of Britain.

“The media and many of us, simply didn’t understand the views of young people in our country. They were turned off by the way politics was being conducted. We have to and must change that. The fightback gathers speed and gathers pace,” he said.

The north London MP is one of the most unexpected winners of the party leadership in its history, after persuading Labour members and supporters that the party needed to draw a line under the New Labour era of Blair and Gordon Brown.

Attention will now turn to who serves in Corbyn’s top team, with MPs such as John McDonnell, Angela Eagle, Sadiq Khan, Ken Livingstone and possibly leadership rival Burnham tipped for key roles. Liam Byrne, Mary Creagh and John Healey have also indicated they would be willing to serve on his frontbench.

He faces the task of constructing a broad-based shadow cabinet, pulling out of his major TV interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC on Sunday to start the process. However, within two hours it was clear that Rachel Reeves, Emma Reynolds, Tristram Hunt, Chris Leslie and Liz Kendall as well as Cooper would not serve his leadership. Jamie Reed, a shadow health minister, published his resignation letter on Twitter while Corbyn was still delivering his victory speech.

Having been catapulted from a little-known member of parliament to leader of the opposition, Corbyn will now set about apologising for the Iraq war and strongly opposing cuts to public services and welfare. He began his leadership on Saturday with a speech to a rally in London in support of refugees.

Addressing the party’s new members who helped propel him to victory, he said: “Welcome to our party, welcome to our movement. And I say to those returning to the party, who were in it before and felt disillusioned and went away: welcome back, welcome home.”

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[ http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... MP=ema_565 ]

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Round 1: Votes: 422,664 | Electorate: 554,272 | Turnout: 76.30%
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