JEREMY CORBYN

WHY WAS THERE A CONTEST? In September 2015 Jeremy Corbyn was announced as winner of the Labour leadership contest He replaces Ed Milliband who resigned after Labour lost the 2015 General Election in May. His victory will have a real impact on British politics for the next few years

HOW DID HE WIN? First of all he had to be nominated by 35 Labour MPs. However he could only find 15 who really supported him. He was eventually able to get 20 MPs to nominate him even though they intended to vote for another candidate. The 20 who agreed to nominate him wanted to widen the debate- and most thought he would lose anyway. There was then a 3 month campaign on TV and in meetings around the country. Over 400,000 people voted in this election

WHO COULD VOTE All Labour party members could vote (243,000) Members of many trade unions could vote (Over 70,000 cast a vote) Anyone who paid £3 and became a registered supporter could vote (approximately 105,000 people did this during the campaign)

REGISTERED SUPPORTERS Of these 105,000 registered supporters who paid £3 to vote in the election, 84% voted for Jeremy Corbyn. His supporters suggest this is evidence that he is able to reach out to ordinary people far more than ‘safe’ politicians However many of these ‘supporters’ had previously supported other political parties. Even some Conservatives tried to join believing that a Corbyn victory would lead to disaster for the Labour Party

WHO IS JEREMY CORBYN? He is 66 years old and has been the MP for Islington North in London since He is on the left wing of the party and was a huge supporter of Tony Benn Despite his party being in government from – he never became a minister, mainly because he was a huge critic of Tony Blair and ‘New’ Labour In fact he voted against his own government over 500 times. He was especially critical over Tony Blair’s foreign policy and marched against the War in Iraq in

We are big fans of Jeremy Corbyn. With him we can finally see real change in this country. For too long Labour have tried to be just like the Conservatives. Tony Blair even got us involved in a war in Iraq – A war that Jeremy strongly opposed He is not an ordinary politician. He says what he thinks and he never attempts to be fashionable. He might be 66 but young people have been enthused by his new ideas. In the last election 34% of people didn’t vote. If we can persuade those people with our new and distinctive ideas then we can win in At last we will have a real socialist government

We are Labour supporters but electing Jeremy Corbyn will end in disaster. The last time Labour had a hard left programme was in This allowed Margaret Thatcher to win another massive victory and it took us years to recover. We lost in 2010 because people didn’t trust Ed Milliband and many thought he was too left wing. How can going further to the left do any better. We have simply handed the Conservatives victory in He rebelled against the Labour leadership over 500 times, but he will now expect loyalty. He plans to engage non voters – but it is the millions of people in the centre who decide elections – not non voters.

As a Conservative I am very pleased that Labour has elected Jeremy Corbyn. This will damage the party and ensure a Conservative government to at least 2025! The man is a danger to our country. He wants to abandon our nuclear weapons, leave NATO and possibly leave the European Union. He is always happy to be associated with dangerous groups, whether that be the IRA or HAMAS His economic policies will mean higher taxes for everyone. He wants to spend millions of pounds on welfare and spending – that has to be paid for somehow!

HIS FIRST FEW DAYS He approached Prime Minister’s Questions differently atch?v=1TUKGijIzoI atch?v=1TUKGijIzoI He was filmed not singing the National Anthem at a memorial for the Battle of Britain He announced his ‘Shadow Cabinet’ (Over half are women)but half of the old shadow cabinet refused to carry on with Jeremy Corbyn as leader

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Will this make a Labour victory in 2020 more likely? If you were born before May 2002 you will be able to vote – would you vote for Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime Minister? We can no longer say that both Labour and the Conservatives are too similar – Is this a good thing?