Labour Party votes to keep leader Corbyn
LONDON — Jeremy Corbyn strengthened his grip on Britain’s opposition Labour Party on Saturday, beating back a challenge to his leadership by members of Parliament with increased support from the party’s rank and file.
The results of the summer-long leadership struggle were announced in Liverpool, in northwestern England, on the eve of the annual Labour Party conference.
Corbyn, a 67-year-old hard-left politician, won 61.8 percent of the more than 500,000 votes cast, up from the 59.5 percent he won a year ago, when his victory shocked and divided the party.
A revolt by Labour members of Parliament, who said they feared that Corbyn would lead the party to electoral disaster, came to nothing as their favored candidate, Owen Smith, won only 38.2 percent of the vote.
The result tightened Corbyn’s grip on the party and isolated many of its members of Parliament from a growing membership that is younger and more left-leaning, drawn by Corbyn’s policies to reduce inequality, make Britain nonnuclear and renationalize key areas of the economy, like the railways and energy.
The party has almost tripled its membership to more than 500,000, making it the largest political party in Western Europe, Corbyn said. But opinion polls regularly indicate that if an election were held tomorrow, Labour under Corbyn would suffer a historic defeat.
After this resounding victory, Corbyn is highly unlikely to face another challenge before the next general election, which is due in May 2020. Labour members of Parliament who refused to serve in his shadow Cabinet, or who resigned from it as part of the revolt, will be under pressure to join it, even if they sharply disagree with his policies.
Corbyn called for unity, said more held “the Labour family” together than divided it and vowed that the party would win the next election.
Corbyn also promised forgiveness to the rebels, noting that many heated things are said in a campaign that are later regretted. “Let’s wipe that slate clean from today and get on with the work we have to do as a party together,” he said.