Socialist Jeremy Corbyn to step down as leader of Labour Party after projected defeat in U.K. election
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
LONDON — Jeremy Corbyn, the socialist leader of the opposition Labour Party, announced Friday he will step down after projected election results showed the party not only failed to oust the ruling Conservatives but also lost a swath of formerly dependable seats.
Corbyn admitted it had been a "very disappointing" night as support crumbled in his party's former heartlands, with exit polls predicting Labour would win just 201 seats in the 650-seat British Parliament.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ruling Conservative Party were projected to win 357 seats in Thursday's election , which was dominated by the furious and polarizing debate over Brexit and not social issues like the public health system .
Facing his second General Election defeat, Corbyn announced he would call it a day as leader after being re-elected to his Islington North seat in London.
He said he would not lead the party into another election, but would stay on during a “process of reflection.”
Many Labour figures are calling on Corbyn to resign immediately as the party grapples with what looks set to be an overwhelming defeat. But Corbyn seemed determined to resist the pressure, accusing the media of attacking Labour and contributing to its poor result along with Brexit.
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks after the General Election results of the Islington North constituency were announced at a counting center in Islington during Britain's general election, London, Britain December 13, 2019. HANNAH MCKAY / Reuters A lifelong socialist, Corbyn, 70, will be remembered for transforming the party from a progressive but center-left political force that won three elections under Tony Blair, to a radical left-wing party that called for major reforms in business and the economy.
While he is popular among the party faithful — membership swelled under him — he is unpopular with many of his colleagues in Parliament, and several high-profile anti-Brexit Labour figures either quit, joined the rival Liberal Democrats or began their own mini-party.
Corbyn had been a largely unknown lawmaker since 1983, representing the inner-London suburb of Islington North and championing human rights. He was fiercely opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and was chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, an amalgam of left-wing groups that organized several high-profile marches.
Along with John McDonnell, the would-be finance minister, Corbyn was one of the few hard-left members of Parliament to have survived the party’s modernization into “New Labour” under Blair, which abandoned a longstanding pledge to ensure industry was owned by the state for the benefit of workers, where possible.
Labour’s 2019 manifesto, a list of ideas and policies that British parties publish before an election, provided the clearest version of Corbyn's political vision.
Utility companies, such as water, energy and transportation, were to all be brought into public ownership. Companies were to give away 10 percent of its shares to workers, who would receive an annual dividend and get a say on boardroom decisions. High-speed broadband was to be made available to all homes and businesses for free. University tuition fees were to be abolished.
Alastair Campbell, a former Blair adviser and a rival of the party's leader, said the crushing defeat showed that voters had rejected Corbyn and the party's economic vision.
"Labour has to face some hard truths — this was not just about Corbyn but the broader worldview and an economic plan that so many people did not believe," he tweeted.
After a disappointing election result in 2015 under the center-left leader Ed Miliband, Corbyn stood for the leadership against some well-known New Labour figures and unexpectedly won. The party rules had just been changed to allow ordinary party members — not just lawmakers — to vote on who should become leader, which helped Corbyn to a landslide 59 percent victory.
Driven by Momentum, a campaign group set up purely to support Corbyn which amassed 40,000 members, Corbyn soon grew a huge following online and at a series of rallies across the country.
“Oh, Jeremy Corbyn,” sung to the bass line of the White Stripes’ "Seven Nation Army," became a familiar soundtrack at events, including at the music festival Glastonbury, where Corbyn was a guest speaker on the main stage in 2017, in front of tens of thousands of people.
His star rose further still after a spirited personal performance in the 2017 election helped Labour increase its overall vote share by 9.5 percentage points compared to the previous election, winning an extra 30 seats in the process, although not enough to claim power.
Corbyn’s tenure has been blighted, however, by accusations of anti-Semitism among some of his most fervent supporters, often tied to florid conspiracy theories concerning the state of Israel or Jewish bankers.
A series of reports, including from the Jewish Labour Movement, accused the party of not dealing with anti-Semitism complaints fast enough , a charge Corbyn flatly denied.
The U.K.’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, made the unprecedented step before the election of writing in a newspaper article that “the very soul of our nation is at stake.” Some 87 percent of British Jews considered Corbyn personally anti-Semitic, according to a poll for the Jewish Chronicle in March.
Other controversies include his links and alleged support for the IRA in the 1980s.
In a BBC radio interview he was asked five times by the Northern Irish radio presenter Stephen Nolan to condemn the violence carried about by the IRA — he refused to do so and repeatedly said he condemned “all bombing,” including the actions of the British army during "the Troubles."
Corbyn faced strong criticism for an equivocal stance on Brexit — before the election he declared himself neutral in any second referendum — while the Conservatives scooped up pro-Brexit voters and the Liberal Democrats captured the anti-Brexit vote.
However, the long list of promises did not translate to electoral support, particularly in traditional working-class Labour heartlands where there is a natural suspicion of radicalism.
It's not clear whether Labour will continue in Corbyn’s mold and try to win support yet again at the ballot box for such a transformative agenda at the next election, scheduled for 2024, or whether the defeat means that the rump of centrist lawmakers who openly resented his leadership could try to wrest back control of the party.
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Well, I know my family will much happier tonight... up next, the Brexit vote. One may have nothing to do with the other in the outcome.
I know a lot won't be. It seemed to me the younger generation was more for the Labour party and like here in the US, the older conservative faction wins out.
The election reminds me of ours in 2016 in regards to formerly blue areas turning red here and a lot of liberal strongholds going Conservative and Boris. I hope that Trump and Johnson have the same kind of arrangement as Reagan and Thatcher.
Hi Ender,
After just coming back from there, I can tell you that their parties are really nothing like ours. The Tories are more like our Dems and we don't have any real party like their Labour party. Also, while some of the youth vote in metro centers like London would vote Labour, the entire north country would vote Tory, and a the same of anything south of London.
This was a landslide win for the Tories, so I think it had to do more with Jeremy Corbyn, and hence why he will be stepping down.
HA,
You can not compare our politics. Boris looks like a liberal compared to Trump. Brexit is the issue and everything that has happened has been a knee jerk reaction to Brexit. Now Brexit goes back to a vote. This should be interesting since so many who claimed they didn't know what they were voting for (meaning the ramifications of the break) do now.
He will try, but he might not have the votes. If he doesn't then it will go back to vote. You forget that they are not a two-party system and the other parties are not on board.
I doubt it.
Yesterday was definitely not a "we've changed our mind about Brexit" sort of day.
I have no dog in this fight, so I don't care if Brexit goes through or not. It's just that we have been here before, and it has not gone through. There is a hard deadline that must be met, and that is the issue.
I think that it was more complicated than that. To not vote for Johnson would be having Corbyn, and he has to be the scariest person to come to the British political scene, since maybe Chamberland. There really was no choice but to vote for Johnson. Brexit took a back seat in this election and I think that is what Johnson was hoping for, and that is why he called for an election and it worked.
Some choices are not a choice at all.
You act as if this was an orchestrated thing, but that was hardly it. When I was there in late Oct/ early Nov, they were not even sure they could get out the vote. And in fact, there were many both remainers and leavers who hadn't made up their minds yet, because of Brexit.
After speaking to my uncle, who is a leaver and hated Corbyn, he feels that the fact that Corbyn had no real opinion about Brexit actually hurt him. It didn't get out the remainers vote.
So as you see, this was quite the unforeseen outcome.
Which should be the official US position.
It will be good to see that anti Semite bigot gone. On the other hand he was our guarantee that Labor would never win parliament as long as he was there as labor leader. In that one regard alone, I will miss him. I can’t wait for Brexit to be done and a new special UK-USA free and fair trade deal. Labor and Corbyn were fairly virulently anti America so all in all, good riddance.
the progressives/socialists went too far on both sides of the pond.
just far enough for everyone else to wake the fuk up
Well, I am very glad he lost as he was a very toxic man and the Tories are a bit more measured at this point. But there is no guarantee about Brexit, and depending on the vote, the entire UK could fall apart. I have very mixed feelings about it.
They were off the charts left and Corbyn was a very toxic man. I'm glad to see him lose.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Have to agree with you there.
Europeans are seeing our success with Trump and more and more of them are going to want to make their own countries great again.
Wrong. Europe doesn't care about what happens in the US. The English don't care what we are doing. They are worried about the state of the UK, as in will it survive. There is a very good chance that Brexit could go to vote and lose since now people actually understand this time what they are voting for, and there is a good chance that Scotland and Wales will leave the UK, and that would be a disaster.
You are 100% correct.
And we're going to keep this verbiage on hand for the next time somebody suggests that how Europeans "feel" about US is some sort of measure of national security.
If England leaves the union the EU will be in tatters. Scotland and Wales will come crawling back after the EU folds without it's most powerful member.
Those are two different issues and in fact, we do need them, if we want to keep our nuclear arsenal in Europe, unless you are for pulling them, which I am not.
England is NOT the most powerful member of the EU. Germany is then followed by France. Together they have over 6.7 trillion without counting Italy who adds another 2.0 trillion, while the UK has 2.2 trillion. If Scotland and Wales left, they would take.62 trillion leaving the UK with 1.4 trillion. This would be devastating to England, especially Scotland where they get their oil from and with the bulk of cash being then clearly in the EU, that is where they will probably go. Already banking has taken a big hit. England is going to have to work very hard to keep Scotland in order to make this work.
The Germans would be laughing at the idea England is the "most powerful member" of the EU....if Germans had a sense of humor.....
Of course we need them, and of course they need us.
I was referring to the hyper-emotional ranters that claim Trump saying mean things on Twitter is somehow a threat to our national security because the French/Germans/Brits/Danes/Belgians will get their feelings hurt.
Agreed.
I don't think Trump's twitter rants has any effect on detente, but it does make him look very unpresidential.
No kidding.
LMAO! Good one, Jack.
They do and they don't. They care if it affects them. I was just there and really all they were was consumed with their election, which is understandable.
You have to understand that while we know their history, they are not taught ours. This gives them a bit of a skewed idea about us and how we do things.
watching progressives/socialists lose on both sides of the pond at the same time?
Priceless
You have no idea of what goes on, on the other side of the Pond, and I doubt even American socialist care.
Cheers!
actin like ya know me huh? try again.
too funny...
progressives/socialists are regressive and their BS is being rejected on both sides of the pond.
that is a fact.
and I do appreciate the attempted personal attack.
perhaps you should moderate yourself...
cheers
[Deleted]
As a child, I grew between there and the US. My dad was in the Navy and when my dad would get shipped out, Mum would go home. This could be as long as 6 months at a time, so I was educated between the two countries.
In my teens I would spend summers there, to spend time with my grandparents.
And through my adult life, I would go back for one month spans to spend time with my grandma.
It doesn't take me long to slip into an English accent one I am there and drop the NY one.
Please explain how saying you have no idea what goes on there is a personal attack in need of moderation? I am amused.
That still doesn't explain how you would know what goes on in England. That explains how inflexible you feel those words progressives/socialists are. It doesn't explain why.
Cheers
telling a person "You have no idea of what goes on, on the other side of the Pond" comes with implications about their intelligence compared to yours.
but don't worry, it only made me laugh and I was only being sarcastic. so I didn't flag your comment. LOL
truth is you don't have a single clue what I know. and I would just be making shit up if I even tried to tell you what you know.
but, I will tell ya what I do know.
a socialist is a socialist no matter what side of the pond they are on. and free people "always" get fed up with their BS in the end. it happens every single time. the only real question is how long free people put up with it before they put an end to the progressive/socialist/communist bs.
brexit has been a long time coming but any student of history that loves anthropology saw it coming a mile away.
Cheers
A former UK PM had the best and last word about socialism and its running out of other people’s money to spend.
No, it doesn't. It means that I lived there and I was just there and somethings you have to experience. I have spoken to so many Brits about this topic and the one thing that they feel is that we really don't understand their politics, since they even lecture me, and I grew up there.
You do realize that most of Europe has socialism to one extent or another, including England. No one seems fed up yet with that there. The issue for the English is being bossed around and England is tired of it. It has a lot more to do with them being the last empire of Europe and not wanting Germany to tell them what they have to accept or not. That is what caused Brexit. What caused Corbyn to lose, is finally everyone realized what a dirtbag he was.
military brat and veteran Ive been round the world twice. people are people no matter what country I've lived in.
I'm not talking about "politics" I'm talking about people and free people do not like unelected bureaucrats collecting taxes from another country while telling them how to live, how to speak, what they can produce, where they can fish, and who they let in their country. they barely put up with that crap coming from their local govt... LOL that's just human nature. and may the eu die swiftly.
Cheers
And yet, the Russians were ruled for hundreds of years, first by the tzars and then by the communists, and when they were finally given freedom, they opted back for a dictator.
There are all kinds of people. The mistake that Americans make over and over is that we think we know what everyone else wants.
The EU existed before England, as the EC, and it will continue without it. The bigger question is how will England do. I hope for my family's sake, it works out OK.
as you show, they were not free people for hundreds of years
are they still ruled by tzars or communists? not so much
in regards to the usa or uk I said.
the only real question is how long free people put up with it before they put an end to the progressive/socialist/communist bs.
unlike russia, we don't have a 200 years history of bending a knee. and we will not start now.
everything will work out in the end. your family will be fine.
the uk "people will prosper again and the eu will crumble.
no worries.
You are moving goal posts. You said:
And they are not. Then you mention free people. Freedom is relative.
And of course unlike russia, we don't have a 200 years history of bending a knee. We fought a war over that.
But we are talking about Europe. And they are very different to us.
I'm not sure of either. I remember the 70's when England was a mess and the EC was doing amazing.
You have to love Man United. I know I do. And very cool you go to England. I never knew that about you!
I think that is not quite accurate. Most of the foreign workers are from Slavic countries and they tend to be like our Mexicans. They do yard and clean homes, etc.
*sings "Glory Glory Man United" boisterously*
no, I did not.
I was talking about the usa and the uk "and free people" in today's world. I can admit maybe I was not all to clear... but that is to be expected from me while doing several things at once and having a conversation here at the same time.
comparing that to people under tyranny in russia for a couple hundred years? that is moving the goal post.
people in the usa and the uk still have the taste of freedom on their lips and can not be expected to react like russians beaten down by tzars or communists for hundreds of years.
They even learned from our liberal friends................save the pussy hats.
That could describe almost any election where someone didn't get who they wanted.