Jeremy Corbyn stays Labour Party leader with more support
LONDON: Many Labour Party MPs and others hold the view that leader Jeremy Corbyn cannot win a general election, but party members once again reposed their trust in him, electing him with more support on Saturday than when he first became leader last September.
The election was triggered soon after the June 23 Brexit vote amid allegations that Corbyn did not campaign strongly enough for Britain to remain in the European Union. The Labour parliamentary party passed a no-confidence motion against him.
Britain’s principal opposition party is placed in a piquant situation of its MPs subscribing to the view that Corbyn cannot lead the party to power in the 2020 elections, but growing numbers of party members increasingly rally behind him - almost like a personality cult.
Corbyn promised to unite the party after the election results were declared in Liverpool, saying, “There is much that unites us than divides us”. He insisted that he can lead the party to power by defeating the Conservative in the next general elections.
Corbyn polled nearly 62% of the votes cast, increasing his support from the 59% in September 2015. His challenger, Owen Smith, polled 38% votes in an election that some believed was not necessary and in which Corbyn’s election was seen as a foregone conclusion. The leadership election campaign aroused much passion in a divided Labour Party that is widely seen as struggling to present a strong opposition to the Theresa May government, particularly in the post-Brexit vote situation. There has also been talk that Corbyn’s re-election may split the party.
The left-leaning The Guardian said it “would welcome an electable, effective Labour Party as an indispensible part of progressive politics. It would have important work to do. But for that Labour Party to return, the leader and his party must be judged on three main things, starting now”.
“The first is the leader’s ability to bring the party together again, not force it apart. That means mutual respect for all Labour’s currents of thought, not purges. Further leadership contests, deselection of MPs and organisational battles should end”.
“The second is his ability to reach out to the electorate and build support. That means listening more to the non-Labour and the formerly Labour parts of Britain, and working with them too, for Labour has never had the monopoly of progressive virtue and has never won without support in the centre.”
“And the third is the leader’s need to draw up a properly costed economic and social programme for government in the national interest, above all in relation to Brexit, in a general election that may come as early as next year.”
