Victorious Corbyn vows to unify party
Veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected head of Britain’s Labour Party, defeating a challenge to his year-old leadership to the delight of his grassroots supporters and the despair of party centrists, who fear he will lead Labour into the political wilderness.
Corbyn won almost 62 per cent of the more than 500,000 votes cast by Labour members and supporters. His challenger, Welsh MP Owen Smith, got 38 per cent in a result announced at the party’s conference in Liverpool.
Corbyn, a long-time backbencher, was elected last year to lead Labour, which governed between 1997 and 2010 but has lost two successive general elections to the Conservatives. He has strong support among local party activists, but many Labour legislators believe his Left-wing views are out of step with public opinion, and have tried to unseat him.
Accepting victory to a standing ovation from delegates, Corbyn said he would work to unite the party. ‘‘We have much more in common than that which divides us. As far as I’m concerned let’s wipe that slate clean from today and get on with the work we’ve got to do as a party.’’
Corbyn’s margin of victory is larger than a year ago, but he heads a party that’s a long way from defeating the governing Conservatives, and split about whether it values political principles over gaining power.
Like Bernie Sanders, who shares some of Corbyn’s outlook, or Donald Trump – who definitely doesn’t – Corbyn is a sign of how the political Centre ground has eroded.
The 67-year-old socialist spent more than 30 years as a backbencher, never holding a senior role and best known for his frequent rebellions against the Centre-Left party leadership. When he ran for leader a year ago, few expected him to win. But he was propelled to victory by thousands of new members who joined Labour to back him.
For Corbyn supporters, it was a chance to repudiate the centrist ‘‘new Labour’’ vision of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who won three elections but became too cozy with big business for some tastes.