Corbyn confident of staying leader as new members rush to join party
JEREMY Corbyn is confident but not complacent that he will be re-elected Labour leader this autumn as the party confirmed the electorate for the contest will be approaching 600,000 voters.
As Mr Corbyn is set to launch his campaign, his spokesman said: “He is not complacent in any way but he was elected with a landslide a year ago and by a lot of measures his support has increased. There’s every reason to think that he will be re-elected.”
After the deadline for registered members passed at 5pm yesterday, the party confirmed it had received more than 180,000 applications during the 48-hour window.
Each paid £25 to secure their vote and could play a decisive role in the battle between Mr Corbyn and the sole challenger Owen Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary.
The contest is also open to those of the party’s 380,000plus members, who joined before January 12 as well as affiliated supporters from unions and other organisa “fully tions. This means the electorate is at least 560,000.
Mr Corbyn’s spokesman had said earlier that it was “reasonable to assume” that the majority of the new registrations had come from supporters of the veteran left-winger.
Labour confirmed Mr Corbyn and Mr Smith would be the only two candidates on the ballot paper for the postal vote, which ends on September 24; the eve of the party’s annual conference.
By the deadline of 5pm yesterday, Mr Smith, the MP for Pontypridd, had secured the nominations of 162 Labour MPs as well as 10 MEPs. Among his nominators were former rival Angela Eagle, who withdrew from the race on Tuesday, and ex-leader Ed Miliband.