Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CORBYN: A LEADER FOR THE MANY NOT THE FEW
Jeremy Corbyn was key to Labour vote surge
JEREMY Corbyn’s future as Labour leader is secure after his extraordinary election success.
After almost two years of pressure from critics inside the party, the veteran socialist has been vindicated by a brilliant campaign that defied the odds and denied the Tories a majority. And it means Labour’s shift to the left under his leadership may now be permanent. “Politics has changed,” Mr Corbyn beamed, as the sensational results rolled in. “It is not going back in the box it was in before. People have had quite enough of austerity politics.” Instead of focusing on defending key marginals, Mr Corbyn launched an aggressive campaign, spending much of his time in Tory seats, which Labour ultimately went on to win. And instead of focusing on Brexit, Mr Corbyn successfully switched the focus on to Tory austerity and the cash crisis in our schools and NHS. Yesterday he enjoyed a late breakfast with wife Laura in a London cafe and was pictured leaving a shop carrying a copy of the Daily Mirror, with coverage of his stunning performance at the polls on the front page. Labour chiefs said that, ironically, the campaign changed the day the Mirror was leaked a copy of their manifesto. Mr Corbyn and his team were “furious” at the breach – but, in fact, it provided days of coverage for their radical left-wing programme. Soon after, the Tories published their own grim manifesto, with its bungled social care policy, quickly dubbed the Dementia Tax. A senior Labour source said: “There was always an upward trajectory in our support. We knew that was happening anyway. “We just needed one big positive for us – that was our manifesto – and one big misstep from them. That came with the Dementia Tax. Then we knew we were in with a fighting chance.” Pundits also pinpointed a damning email leaked to the Mirror early in the campaign which revealed foxhunting masters were plotting to help Mrs May win a big landslide for a repeal of the hunting ban. It meant her claims to be leading a different, kinder type of Tory Party were exposed as lies. On the eve of the election, the Mirror carried Mr Corbyn’s final campaign interview, in which he predicted Labour was on course to upset the odds. “We can do something very special on Thursday,” he told us. “We can have a future of hope for the many not the few.” The horrific terror attacks in Manchester and at London Bridge halted Labour’s momentum, however, and sources feared voters would back Mrs May in response. The PM and her scaremongering supporters in the right-wing press shamelessly tried to capitalise on the attacks by painting Mr Corbyn as a terrorist sympathiser under whose leadership Britain would be less safe. But the Labour leader successfully turned the tables on her by highlighting her own record in office – and, crucially, her disastrous decision to axe 20,000 police, including 1,000 armed officers. Another campaign source said: “They were trying to attack us about this meeting or that meeting which Jeremy supposedly attended during the 1980s. “We were able to attack May about her actual record in government. And the police were backing us up. “The difference was, our arguments had the benefits of being true – and voters could see it.” But just minutes before the shock exit poll was published at 10pm predicting a hung Parliament, officials close to Mr Corbyn were fully braced for defeat. “The Tories are going to win,” a senior source told the Mirror at that point. But their surprise quickly turned to delight as they realised their radical strategy of galvanising young and first-time voters had been largely successful. “From the very start, we refused to accept the way the Tories were trying
to frame the election,” the senior Labour source said. “We refused to accept it was all about Brexit. We refused to accept it was a foregone conclusion that she would win and the only issue was the size of her majority.” Now rebel Labour MPS who have constantly sniped at Mr Corbyn since his first day in office will fall back into line. A group had been plotting a fresh challenge to his leadership this weekend after what they had assumed would be a crushing defeat. Instead, many are now preparing to seek jobs on his frontbench as Labour unites to pile the pressure on Mrs May. “We have no choice but to put together the strongest possible team,” a leading critic of Mr Corbyn said yesterday. “In effect, the electorate has given us what we asked for – to clip Theresa May’s wings and make us a genuinely strong Opposition. Labour is a powerful player in Parliament now – and we need our best and most experienced players on the pitch to hold her to account.” Former Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna – one of those tipped as a possible successor to Mr Corbyn – showered praise on the Labour leader. “The only talk of replacing a leader is around Theresa May. Jeremy Corbyn will remain leader of Labour, quite rightly so,” he said. “He has had a brilliant campaign. Jeremy has fought with enthusiasm, energy, verve. He has confounded lots of people’s expectations – my expectations, his expectations. “The Labour Party has come together, it has unified and fought an incredible campaign, and we have seen the results.” Another leading critic of Mr Corbyn, former leadership hopeful Angela Eagle, made clear she was ready to return to Labour’s frontbench. She said: “I want to thank and congratulate Jeremy Corbyn. “He campaigned positively to communicate the Labour values that we share. I pledge to play any part my party should ask of me.” Corbyn ally Len Mccluskey, boss of Unite, said: “Labour, led by Jeremy Corbyn, has pulled off the biggest political reawakening of the century. “For a party and a leader long written off and faced by... hysterical, hostile media, this is nothing short of astonishing. Jeremy found a way to connect with millions of people who were in need of hope.”