With new leader, UK’s Labour leans decisively Left

The British Labour Party took a decisive swing to the Left over the weekend as Jeremy Corbyn, the socialist candidate committed to re-nationalisation of several industries, the end of university tuition fees and a reversal of the austerity-focused policies of the Conservative government and previous Labour leaders, scored a decisive victory in party leadership elections on Saturday.

Over 250,000 members and other supporters able to vote in the election opted for Corbyn, who won a staggering 59.5 per cent of the vote. He was followed by Andy Burnham with 19 per cent, Yvette Cooper with 17 per cent and Liz Kendall with 4.5 per cent.

Corbyn, 66, took the news of his victory — greeted by loud cheering from within the packed central London conference centre — in the modest and understated style he has become known for: with a smile, and an embrace for each of his three rivals.

While he has divided opinion in the party — seven Labour ministers have resigned from the shadow cabinet — Corbyn has refrained from speaking out against rivals or those of opposing his views.

On Saturday, he thanked the other candidates for the leadership individually along with former leader Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman, who had headed the party in the interim. The campaign for the leadership had demonstrated the party’s “passionate, democratic, diverse, united and absolutely determined in our quest for a decent and better society that is possible for all,” he said.

The results reflect the unexpected turn of events within the Labour party since the May general election, when the Conservatives were returned to power without the need for a coalition partner.

While many in the Labour Party argued that Miliband’s agenda had been too leftist and had advocated a rightward shift, this was a strategy firmly rejected by the party membership. It is notable that Kendall, a Blairite, came last in the race.

Fresh start The eagerness of Labour’s membership for a fresh start was also highlighted by the unexpected victory on Friday of Sadiq Khan, a Pakistani-origin lawyer, who received union backing over the former senior Labour minister Tessa Jowell in the race to become Labour’s London Mayoral candidate.

Corbyn, the only one of the leadership contenders to not hold a shadow cabinet position, has been a member of the House of Commons for over 30 years during which time he has been a consistent and active member of the party’s Left wing, repeatedly voting against the official party line in Parliament. He was a vocal critic of Tony Blair in the build up to the Iraq war and has been a consistent critic of past Labour leaders’ failure to challenge the Conservatives’ focus on austerity and deficit reduction.

Acceptance speech He used his acceptance speech on Saturday to highlight his immediate priorities, which include opposition to the Trade Union Bill being brought in by the government, seen by unions as the biggest attack on labour rights since the days of Margaret Thatcher.

In keeping with his long track record as an activist politician — Corbyn has regularly taken part in demonstrations and been actively involved in protest movements — he attended the demonstration in central London to support refugees attended by thousands.

First considered the outsider candidate, who barely garnered the necessary number of parliamentary backers to be nominated, Corbyn quickly became the favourite.

His anti-politico personal style — rolled up shirt sleeves and now hallmark beard — and serious political message focused on social justice and inclusion appealing to thousands, and particularly young people, even as he largely shied away from conventional media sources to spread his message.

They shunned the image that many in the mainstream media attempted to build of him as an outdated leader who would return Britain to the 1970s and the 1980s.

Over the course of his campaign he held a total of 99 rallies across the country, and he would often give a second address to those gathered outside the meeting unable to get in.

His background — he shunned traditional educational routes, giving up a course in trade union studies in north London to become a trade union organiser — also set him apart from other Labour leaders.

His campaign faced criticism from business and the finance sector, with his support for the renationalisation of several industries including the railways and energy, plans to reduce the independence of the Bank of England and the introduction of “people’s quantitative easing.” He also advocates the reduction of corporate subsidies and tax relief, and the creation of a national bank to invest in infrastructure.

However, not all economists disagree with him: among those to support the policies advocated by him is David Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, who is critical of the government and central bank’s handling of the economic downturn.

Stance on women Corbyn’s stance on women has attracted some criticism — particularly a recent suggestion he made about the possibility of women only train carriages to help deal with rising assaults them. However, the leader set out comprehensive plans during his campaign to improve the position of women in the UK, including ensuring that at least half the members of his shadow cabinet were women and, in the long term, half Labour MPs.

While Corbyn has said he will support a ‘Yes’ vote in any referendum held on UK’s membership of the EU, he has been a strong critic of the EU. Speaking to Frontline magazine in 1991, in a joint interview with Meghnad Desai, Eric Hobsbawn and academic Mary Kaldor about the state of the Labour Party, a young Corbyn described the European Commission as a “fundamentally undemocratic institution.”

His victory will be significant to India and Britain’s large Indian population in a number of ways.

For one, he has been one of the strongest advocates in the House of Commons for recognising caste discrimination as a form of racial discrimination under Britain’s Equality Bill, so his victory could give fresh life to the campaign to do so. (See http://tinyurl.com/occwtt7).

On trade, he has been a strong critic of the existing balance of power between the West and developing nations and in the past has spoken of the importance of the role played by India and Brazil in changing the terms of trade.

He has also been sharply critical of the government’s immigration strategy, and the treatment of non-EU citizens.

However, his focus on India and Indian policy hasn’t always been laudatory. In 2004 he attended the World Social Forum in Mumbai and in briefings at the time wrote about the poverty and inequality he saw, particularly in rural areas, as well as his scepticism about the economic reforms being brought in by the then government.

In 2006, writing about his attendance of the World Social Forum in Karachi, he wrote of “appalling human rights” abuses and the significance of the WSF in developing a “movement of autonomy” in Kashmir.

Earlier this year he signed a parliamentary Early Day Motion criticising “systematic human rights violations” and calling on the Indian government to hold a referendum on Kashmir.

In 2003, he also signed an EDM about the treatment of Christians and Muslims in Gujarat, and expressed concerns that authorities in the State were “leading the efforts to dismantle a secular India.”

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