Election
of backbench MP and anti-war campaigner means party now has one of
the most leftwing, anti-establishment leaders in its history
Jeremy
Corbyn has been elected leader of the British Labour party, in a
stunning first-round victory that dwarfed even the mandate for Tony
Blair in 1994.
He
won with nearly 59.5% of first-preference votes, beating rivals Andy
Burnham, who trailed on 19%, and Yvette Cooper who received 17%. The
“Blairite” candidate Liz Kendall came last on 4.5%.
Minutes
after his victory, Corbyn said the message is that people are “fed
up with the injustice and the inequality” of Britain.
“The
media and many of us, simply didn’t understand the views of young
people in our country. They were turned off by the way politics was
being conducted. We have to and must change that. The fightback
gathers speed and gathers pace,” he said.
The
north London MP is one of the most unexpected winners of the party
leadership in its history, after persuading Labour members and
supporters that the party needed to draw a line under the New Labour
era of Blair and Gordon Brown.
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