Jeremy Corbyn sets campaign tone by targeting rich individuals Labour leader ‘goes after’ Duke of Westminster, Ashley, Odey, Ratcliffe and Murdoch
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, set the tone of his election campaign on Thursday with a direct attack on “the privileged few” who benefit from a “corrupt system”, naming individual millionaires whom the UK opposition party wants to target.
Mr Corbyn promised to “go after” the Duke of Westminster, the landowner; Mike Ashley, the retail billionaire; Jim Ratcliffe, chair of the Ineos chemicals group; Rupert Murdoch, the media baron; and Crispin Odey, the hedge fund boss.
In his first speech of the election campaign, Mr Corbyn put himself firmly on the side of “the many not the few”,promising to shake up capitalism to help ordinary working families.
“This election is a once-in-ageneration chance to transform our country, take on the vested interests holding people back and ensure that no community is left behind,” he said.
Mr Corbyn claimed that “the elite” in society do not want to pay taxes. “So they’ll fight harder and dirtier than ever before,” he said. “They’ll throw everything at us because they know we’re not afraid to take them on.”
The Labour leader then directly criticised “landlords like the Duke of Westminster”, whom he claims tried to evict families to make way for luxury apartments.
He attacked “bad bosses like Mike Ashley, the billionaire who won’t pay his staff properly and is running Newcastle United into the ground”,and Sir Jim, whom he claimed is “Britain’s richest man who makes his money by polluting the environment”.
Also in Mr Corbyn’s sights was Mr Odey, “who makes millions betting against our country and on other people’s misery and donated huge sums to Boris Johnson and the Conservative party”, and Mr Murdoch, whose “empire pumps out propaganda to support a rigged system”.
The Financial Times could not immediately obtain comment from most of the business people Mr Corbyn referred to in his speech. Spokespeople for the duke and Mr Ashley declined to comment.
The Labour leader asked voters to choose between siding with the supposed beneficiaries of Britain’s “rigged” capitalist system, or ordinary tenants, shop floor workers and children suffering from pollution.
“When Labour wins, the nurse wins, the pensioner wins, the student wins, the office worker wins, the engineer wins, we all win,” he said.
Mr Corbyn’s economic prospectus has hardened considerably since the 2017 general election, when Labour claimed its policies of targeted nationalisations and tax rises on the rich were firmly in the European “social democratic tradition”.
The Labour leader’s speech confirmed that the party now intends to take a much tougher approach.
Labour has already set out plans for the state to seize 10 per cent of shares in big companies, which would be given to workers.
The party is also proposing a big nationalisation programme and has floated the idea of allowing tenants to buy their homes from private landlords, possibly at a discount to the market rate.
Meanwhile, the Jewish Labour Movement has announced it will not campaign for the party in the upcoming election, due to the alleged rise in anti-semitism under Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
The JLM said it will not support Labour — the first time in its 100-year history — and will only offer support in “exceptional circumstances” and for “exceptional candidates”. The organisation has more than 2,500 members.