He doesn’t speak in soundbites, he doesn’t speak to people as a politician, he speaks to them as another person, and that is an appeal that many are failing to notice.
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She said: “We should always back parents who want to do the best for their kids and I think Joe has been a real mayor for education, rebuilding 12 secondary schools – awesome – showing that Labour can make a difference to people’s lives even when we’re not in Government nationally…”
Professor John Gaffney, Professor of Politics at Aston University and Co-Director of the Aston Centre for Europe, says: “Of course Corbyn is the most popular candidate for leader”.
Yvette Cooper has lashed out at sexism from supporters of Labour leadership rival Andy Burnham as the contest becomes increasingly bitter.
“If your heart is with Corbyn, get a transplant”, Tony blared to a London Labour meeting.
When asked whom he would support in the leadership race, he said: “Well, at least Jeremy Corbyn’s a socialist, and that is what the party is supposed to be”. It is the Green Party and the SNP that would benefit from Liz Kendall taking Labour to the centre.
Senior backbencher Frank Field – one of the MPs who “lent” their nomination to Mr Corbyn ensure he was able to go forward as a candidate even though they were not backing him for leader – expressed frustration at the failure of the other contenders to carry the fight to him.
Corbyn, speaking to reporters in central London, rejected Blair’s criticism and said Labour had not lost the election for being too left-wing, but for offering “austerity-light”.
He predicted that some donors would stop funding Labour, although he acknowledged there could be more support from the trade unions. I do agree with Liz Kendall that Labour therefore needs a radical break from the Miliband years, and I have given Liz Kendall’s campaign a favorable, initially sympathetic, look.
Replying to Blair’s claim that he is “the Tory preference” to win the Labour leadership contest, Corbyn retorted: “I would have thought he could manage something more serious than those very silly remarks”, adding that it was “a bit premature” to talk about victory in the contest.
Blair also warned the party against electing Corbyn as leader, saying that such an outcome would make Labour unelectable.
Pressed whether he would take a shadow cabinet position under Mr Corbyn, Mr Burnham said: “I would”.
Nicknamed “Comrade Corbyn” by the press, the 66-year-old backbench lawmaker, who usually wears a worn beige jacket and slacks, opposes austerity measures, was a vocal campaigner against the Iraq war and wants to scrap Britain’s nuclear weapons.
But the Cooper campaign argue the preferences would break another way and their candidate is the only one who could beat Corbyn in the last round. We voted for an amendment which would have blocked the bill, would have stopped it in its tracks, would have ditched the whole thing, but that got completely lost.
Tom Watson is the preferred candidate for the party’s deputy leader election.
Mr Burnham also led among Labour supporters.
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It appears that a majority of British Political Scientists (at least those active on Twitter) seems to share the widely held view of journalists and commentators that a Corbyn-lead Labour Party would have worse odds of winning in 2020 than a Burnham/Cooper/Kendall-lead party.
