The Scottish Mail on Sunday

And finally...Why he may be best thing since Attlee

- By DAMIAN McBRIDE FORMER No 10 AIDE TO GORDON BROWN

TO UNDERSTAND Jeremy Corbyn, you need to understand Holloway, the stretch of the A1 from Highgate to Highbury that he has represente­d in Parliament for three decades. Forget the name of his constituen­cy – Islington North – and forget every stereotype about poetry recitals and posh restaurant­s that you associate with that London borough. Holloway is an entirely different beast.

From the massive Andover Estate, described as a ‘dump’ by Ann Widdecombe, to the huge Wetherspoo­n pub serving pints from 8am, this is not the gentrified Islington made famous by Tony and Cherie Blair.

Corbyn’s is the smallest constituen­cy in Britain, but one of the most densely packed. More than 100,000 people live in an area the size of 1,000 football pitches, the best of which is managed by Arsenal Football Club, the new Labour leader’s most highprofil­e constituen­t.

Despite their similar population­s, you could fit Corbyn’s Islington North inside David Cameron’s rural Witney seat 100 times over. In Witney, 93 per cent of the population define themselves as White British. In Islington North, fewer than half do. Just one in 250 of David Cameron’s constituen­ts is black; for Corbyn, it is one in seven.

The two constituen­cies are also at different ends of the spectrum when it comes to unemployme­nt and poverty. Of the 632 constituen­cies in Great Britain, Corbyn’s seat is among the 50 most deprived; Cameron’s is the 18th least deprived.

The Prime Minister talks a good game on immigratio­n, crime and welfare but he does so from a comfortabl­e distance. By contrast, for 32 years, Corbyn has seen the changing face of Britain on his streets, as large groups of Irish, Caribbean and Asian immigrants in the community were joined by Turks, Somalis and Poles.

He has also wrestled with the impact on his constituen­cy of gangs, drugs and violent crime, and he represents hundreds of residents at risk of becoming homeless because of cuts in housing benefit.

Corbyn was a radical socialist before he set foot in Holloway in his early 20s, but nothing he has seen in his years as its MP has softened his views.

When opposing the Iraq War, he only had to look at the impact it was having on levels of alienation and extremism among the 10 per cent of his constituen­ts who follow Islam, many at the notorious Finsbury Park Mosque.

He believes in the redistribu­tion of wealth and increased investment in schools, transport, healthcare and housing because these are the needs he sees every day.

Before the General Election, many of my fellow Holloway residents were scathing about Ed Miliband and fearful of him taking office, but ask them how they would vote, and the answer was unanimous: ‘Labour.’

Why? ‘It’s Jeremy. He’s proper Labour.’ Proper Labour: the party establishe­d to represent the workers against the vested interests at the top.

Corbyn’s critics scorn the idea that Labour lost the Election because it was not Left-wing enough. But most ordinary voters had no idea what Miliband stood for. They did not see a socialist firebrand; they saw a chocolate soldier, who prevaricat­ed over everything from his television image to his stance on the deficit.

By contrast, Corbyn’s undoubted appeal comes from the fact that he is principled, honest and authentic: he knows what and who he stands for, and says it loud and proud.

When Ed Miliband said after his 2010 election: ‘We can’t be imprisoned by the focus groups – politics has to be about leadership or it’s about nothing’, no one believed he meant it. If Corbyn said the same, you can bet they would.

But he faces a rocky ride. Dozens of MPs are already disgracefu­lly ignoring the democratic process and lining up to destabilis­e their new leader.

The only way Corbyn can succeed is by maintainin­g his genuine voice and hoping that the majority of British people see the country more like the residents of Holloway than the residents of Witney: a country with deep social and economic problems, and massive challenges for public services, which cannot be fixed by more of the same.

The last Labour leader to represent an inner London seat, indeed the last leader of any major party to do so, was in his 60s by the time he became Prime Minister. He was unfashiona­ble, disdainful of the media and he stood on a platform that promoted peace and investment in public services and housing, even with the country facing massive debts.

Clement Attlee went on to be Labour’s greatest Prime Minister. And while few may believe that Jeremy Corbyn can follow in his footsteps as he slips into the leader’s shoes today, one thing is for sure: he comes from the right place.

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