But others are equally as determined to stop him – nervous now that if he wins once more, that the Labour Party itself it might not survive.
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A formal leadership contest is now underway and Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) will meet tomorrow for its most important summit in a generation.
Labour’s rulebook says that “potential challengers” for the leadership need the nominations of 20% of MPs and MEPs, something Corbyn’s opponents believe should apply to him as well as Eagle.
A Labour spokesman said: ‘The timetable for the contest for the leader of the Labour Party has been agreed by the NEC and will commence on Thursday.
The former shadow Business Secretary said that last month’s vote for Brexit had been a “howl of pain” from people who felt their leaders no longer listened to them.
Despite a civil war raging within the Party since the historic European Union referendum vote, Mr Corbyn has resisted attempts – and insisted from the outset he would stand again the event of a leadership content.
Without automatic inclusion in the race Mr Corbyn would nearly certainly have been unable to defend his position.
JEREMY Corbyn will face Angela Eagle in a battle for the soul of the Labour party after a ruling that the embattled leader can go on the ballot.
All other candidates will have to attain the required number of nominations in order to go forward to the ballot, the statement continued.
Responding to a question about how he would convince MPs he is leadership material, Corbyn said: “I am sure that Labour MPs will understand that the party has to come together”.
But the decision makes Mr Corbyn now the favourite in the contest.
Though many party members continue to stand behind the veteran politician, Corbyn has faced several clashes with Labour MPs in the time since taking over party leadership, resulting in a no-confidence motion in his leadership. Instead the price has been increased to pounds 25, while full-time members must have been affiliated to the party for at least six months to vote – barring the 100,000 new members who joined in recent weeks.
However, advice backed by the Unite union – the party’s biggest financial backer – concluded he should automatically be included on the ballot as an incumbent leader.
When Mr Corbyn was elected leader, he secured 59.5% of the vote in the first round after a surge in support from registered supporters.
The Labour leader only received the backing of 40 MPs in a confidence vote in which 172 expressed opposition to his continued status as head of the party.
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Arguing he had been given a large mandate by Labour members, Mr Corbyn added: “I think we are a party that’s going places and doing very well”.
