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Left-wing Corbyn frontrunner to lead Britain’s Labour party

Corbyn, who started the contest as the outsider among the four leadership candidates, has expressed support for the nationalization of Britain’s railways and the scrapping of the country’s nuclear deterrent.

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The YouGov poll of those eligible to vote in the contest gives Mr Corbyn 53 per cent of first-preference votes – enough to win with a majority in one round. “We’ve always been a progressive party that’s embraced the future – this is not the time to be reactionary and cling to the past”, she said.

Assem Allam, the multi-millionaire owner of Hull City, told The Sunday Telegraph that he did not want a leader “controlled by trade unions” while businessman Richard Brindle said Mr Corbyn’s policies were “economically illiterate”.

The Huddersfield MP spoke out after voicing fears that members of other political parties were signing up to the Labour party purely to sway the vote. I’m going to make a prediction: Corbyn’s margin of victory will be larger than the eventual number of £3 supporters.

Jeremy Corbyn will “march Labour off a cliff” and lead the party one of the worst defeats in its history at the next election if he wins the leadership contest,

Alastair Campbell

has warned.

Labour leadership vote is expected to kick off in mid August with final results scheduled to be released on September 12.

According to the poll, his support is stronger among those who joined the party after Labour was resoundingly beaten by the Conservative party in a general election in May.

Joe Twyman, also from YouGov, cautioned that the poll was a snapshot and there was still “a lot to play for” for all of the candidates in the race.

Months of post-mortem have followed – how did they get it so wrong, talk of “shy Tories”, misjudging turnout and that the demographics samples were simply wrong.

The veteran campaigner said he found the “Corbynmania” which has seen thousands of people pack into venues to hear him speak “a bit embarrassing”.

Mr Corbyn told BBC Radio London his campaign was going “very well” but added: “We should be a little bit cautious”.

The prospect of a win for the Islington North MP has rocked the Labour establishment, with figures on the party’s right warning he would ruin any chance of forming the next government.

“It would take us back to the days of Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock who nearly killed the Labour Party“, he said.

But he described “Corbynmania” as a “bit embarrassing”.

YouGov president Peter Kellner said: ‘I would personally be astonished if Mr Corbyn does not end up as Labour’s leader.

The Labour Friends of Israel official asked supporters to back a candidate who could play a “constructive” role in negotiating peace between Israel and Palestine.

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Labour is using a new voting system to elect its leader, following changes brought in by Ed Miliband.

Labour leadership battle