Jeremy Corbyn

"Corbyn" redirects here. For other people with the name, see Corbyn (name).

Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (/ˈkɔːrbɪn/; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020, and was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North from 1983 to 2024. He ideologically identifies as a socialist on the political left. Corbyn is standing as an independent candidate in the upcoming general election.

The Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn
Official portrait, 2020
Leader of the Opposition
In office 12 September 2015 – 4 April 2020
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	David Cameron Theresa May Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Harriet Harman
Succeeded by	Keir Starmer
Leader of the Labour Party
In office 12 September 2015 – 4 April 2020
Deputy	Tom Watson
Preceded by	Ed Miliband
Succeeded by	Keir Starmer
Member of Parliament for Islington North
In office 9 June 1983 – 30 May 2024
Preceded by	Michael O'Halloran
Succeeded by	TBC
Chair of the Stop the War Coalition
In office 14 June 2011 – 12 September 2015
President	Tony Benn
Vice President	Lindsey German
Deputy	Chris Nineham
Preceded by	Andrew Murray
Succeeded by	Andrew Murray
Personal details
Born	Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (1949-05-26) 26 May 1949 Chippenham, Wiltshire, England
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Labour (1965–2024)
Spouses	Jane Chapman ​ ​ (m. 1974; div. 1979)​ Claudia Bracchitta ​ ​ (m. 1987; div. 1999)​ Laura Álvarez ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	3 sons
Relatives	Piers Corbyn (brother)
Residence(s)	Finsbury Park, London
Education	Castle House School Adams' Grammar School
Alma mater	North London Polytechnic (did not graduate)
Signature
Website	Official website
a.^ Membership suspended: 29 October 2020 – 17 November 2020; whip suspended since 29 October 2020

Born in Chippenham, Wiltshire, Corbyn joined the Labour Party as a teenager. Moving to London, he became a trade union representative. In 1974, he was elected to Haringey Council and became Secretary of Hornsey Constituency Labour Party until elected as the MP for Islington North in 1983. His activism has included, Anti-Fascist Action, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and advocating for a united Ireland and Palestinian statehood. As a backbencher, Corbyn routinely voted against the Labour whip, including New Labour governments. A vocal opponent of the Iraq War, he chaired the Stop the War Coalition from 2011 to 2015, and received the Gandhi International Peace Award and Seán MacBride Peace Prize. Following Ed Miliband's resignation after the party lost the 2015 general election, Corbyn won the 2015 party leadership election to succeed him. The party's membership increased sharply, during the leadership campaign and following his election.

Taking the party to the left, Corbyn advocated renationalising public utilities and railways, a less interventionist military policy, and reversals of austerity cuts to welfare and public services. Although critical of the European Union, he supported membership in the 2016 referendum. After Labour MPs sought to remove him in 2016 through a leadership challenge, he won a second leadership contest against Owen Smith. In the 2017 general election, Labour increased its share of the vote to 40%, with its 10% rise their largest since 1945. During his tenure as leader, Corbyn was criticised for antisemitism within the party. He condemned antisemitism and apologised for its presence, while his leadership saw a strengthening of disciplinary procedures regarding hate speech and racism. In 2019, after deadlock in Parliament over Brexit, Corbyn endorsed holding a referendum on the withdrawal agreement, with a personal stance of neutrality. In the 2019 general election, Labour's vote share fell to 32%, leading to a loss of 60 seats, leaving it with 202, its fewest since 1935. Corbyn resigned, triggering a leadership election in 2020 won by Keir Starmer. After asserting that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, Corbyn was suspended from the party in 2020. In May 2024, after the 2024 general election was called, Corbyn announced he would stand as an independent candidate for Islington North; he was expelled from the Labour Party.

Early life

Castle House School, where Corbyn attended preparatory school

Adams Grammar School, where Corbyn attended secondary school

Jeremy Bernard Corbyn was born on 26 May 1949 in Chippenham, Wiltshire, the son of mathematics teacher Naomi Loveday (née Josling; 1915–1987) and electrical engineer and power rectifier expert David Benjamin Corbyn (1915–1986). He has three elder brothers; one of them, Piers Corbyn (born 1947), is a weather forecaster who later became known as a climate change denier and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist. For the first seven years of his life, the family lived in Kington St Michael, Wiltshire. His parents were Labour Party members and peace campaigners who met in the 1930s at a committee meeting in support of the Spanish Republic at Conway Hall during the Spanish Civil War.

When Corbyn was seven, the family moved to Pave Lane, Shropshire, where his father bought Yew Tree Manor, a 17th-century farmhouse which was once part of the Duke of Sutherland's Lilleshall estate. Corbyn attended Castle House School, an independent preparatory school near Newport, Shropshire, before becoming a day student at Newport's Adams Grammar School at the age of 11.

While still at school, Corbyn became active in the League Against Cruel Sports and the Labour Party Young Socialists within The Wrekin. He joined the Labour Party at the age of 16. He achieved two A-Levels at grade E, the lowest possible passing grade, before leaving school at 18. Corbyn joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1966 while at school and later became one of its three vice-chairs and subsequently vice-president. Around this time, he also campaigned against the Vietnam War.

After school, Corbyn worked briefly as a reporter for the local Newport and Market Drayton Advertiser newspaper. Around the age of 19, he spent two years doing Voluntary Service Overseas in Jamaica as a youth worker and geography teacher. He subsequently visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay throughout 1969 and 1970. While in Brazil, he participated in a student demonstration in São Paulo against the Brazilian military government. He also attended a May Day march in Santiago, where the atmosphere around Salvador Allende's Popular Unity alliance which swept to power in the Chilean elections of 1970 made an impression on him: "[I] noticed something very different from anything I had experienced... what Popular Unity and Allende had done was weld together the folk tradition, the song tradition, the artistic tradition and the intellectual tradition".

Early career and political activities

Returning to the UK in 1971, Corbyn worked as an official for the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers. He began a course in Trade Union Studies at North London Polytechnic but left after a year without a degree after a series of arguments with his tutors over the curriculum. He worked as a trade union organiser for the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, where his union was approached by Tony Benn and "encouraged ... to produce a blueprint for workers' control of British Leyland"; the plans did not proceed after Benn was moved to a different Department.

He was appointed a member of a district health authority and in early 1974, at the age of 24, he was elected to Haringey Council from South Hornsey ward. After boundary changes in 1978 he was re-elected in Harringay ward as councillor, remaining so until 1983. As a delegate from Hornsey to the Labour Party Conference in 1978, Corbyn successfully moved a motion calling for dentists to be employed by the NHS rather than as private contractors. He also spoke in another debate, describing a motion calling for greater support for law and order as "more appropriate to the National Front than to the Labour Party".

Corbyn became the local Labour Party's agent and organiser, and had responsibility for the 1979 general election campaign in Hornsey.

Around this time, he became involved with the London Labour Briefing, where he was a contributor. Described by The Times in 1981 as "Briefing's founder", The Economist in a 1982 article named Corbyn as "Briefing's general secretary figure", as did a profile on Corbyn compiled by parliamentary biographer Andrew Roth in 2004, which states that he joined the editorial board as General Secretary in 1979. Michael Crick, in the 2016 edition of his book Militant, says that Corbyn was "a member of the editorial board", as does Lansley, Goss and Wolmar's 1989 work The Rise and Fall of the Municipal Left. Corbyn said in 2017 that these reports were inaccurate, telling Sophy Ridge: "I read the magazine. I wrote for the magazine. I was not a member of the editorial board. I didn't agree with it."

He worked on Tony Benn's unsuccessful deputy leadership campaign in 1981. Corbyn was keen to allow former International Marxist Group member Tariq Ali to join the party, despite Labour's National Executive having declared him unacceptable, and declared that "so far as we are concerned ... he's a member of the party and he'll be issued with a card." In May 1982, when Corbyn was chairman of the Constituency Labour Party, Ali was given a party card signed by Corbyn; in November the local party voted by 17 to 14 to insist on Ali's membership "up to and including the point of disbandment of the party".

In the July 1982 edition of Briefing, Corbyn opposed expulsions of the Trotskyist and entryist group Militant, saying that "If expulsions are in order for Militant, they should apply to us too." In the same year, he was the "provisional convener" of "Defeat the Witch-Hunt Campaign", based at Corbyn's then address. The Metropolitan Police's Special Branch monitored Corbyn for two decades, until the early 2000s, as he was "deemed to be a subversive". According to the Labour Party, "The Security Services kept files on many peace and Labour movement campaigners at the time, including anti-Apartheid activists and trade unionists".

Parliamentary backbencher (1983–2015)

Labour in opposition (1982–1997)

Corbyn was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the constituency of Islington North, in February 1982, winning the final ballot for selection by 39 votes against 35 for GLC councillor Paul Boateng, who in 1987 became one of the first three Black British Members of Parliament (MP). At the 1983 general election he was elected MP for the constituency, defeating the Independent Labour incumbent Michael O'Halloran, and immediately joined the socialist Campaign Group, later becoming secretary of the group.

Shortly after being elected to Parliament, he began writing a weekly column for the left-wing Morning Star newspaper. In May 2015, he said that "the Star is the most precious and only voice we have in the daily media". In February 2017, the Morning Star said of Corbyn: "He has been bullied, betrayed and ridiculed, and yet he carries on with the same grace and care he always shows to others – however objectionable their behaviour and treatment of him might be."

In 1983, Corbyn spoke on a "no socialism without gay liberation" platform and continued to campaign for LGBT rights.

He was a campaigner against apartheid in South Africa, serving on the National Executive of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, and was arrested in 1984 while demonstrating outside South Africa House, leading, decades later, to a viral image of Corbyn being arrested circulated by supporters on social media. This was as a member of the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group (CLAAG) who carried out a "non-stop picket" for 1,408 days to campaign for Nelson Mandela's release from prison. The Anti-Apartheid Movement did not support this protest, as they had agreed not to demonstrate within 30 feet of the embassy, and the picket failed to gain support from the London ANC; Mandela's failure to respond to CLAAG following his release from prison in 1990 is frequently described as a 'snub'.

He supported the 1984–85 miners' strike. In 1985, he invited striking miners into the gallery of the House of Commons; they were expelled for shouting: "Coal not dole". At the end of the strike Corbyn was given a medallion by the miners in recognition of his help.

In 1985, he was appointed national secretary of the newly launched Anti-Fascist Action.

During the BBC's Newsnight in 1984, Conservative MP Terry Dicks said that so-called Labour "scruffs" (such as Corbyn, who at this time was known for wearing an old polo-necked sweater to the Commons) should be banned from addressing the House of Commons unless they maintained higher standards. Corbyn responded, saying that: "It's not a fashion parade, it's not a gentleman's club, it's not a bankers' institute, it's a place where the people are represented."

In 1990, Corbyn opposed the poll tax (formally known as the Community Charge) and nearly went to jail for not paying the tax. He appeared in court the following year as a result.

Corbyn supported the campaign to overturn the convictions of Jawad Botmeh and Samar Alami for the 1994 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in London which argued that there was insufficient evidence to tie them to the act, along with Amnesty International, Unison and a number of journalists and other MPs. Botmeh and Alami had admitted possessing explosives and guns but denied they were for use in Britain. The convictions were upheld by the High Court of Justice in 2001 and by the European Court of Human Rights in 2007.

Corbyn sat on the Social Security Select Committee from 1992 to 1997.

Irish politics

A longstanding supporter of a united Ireland, in the 1980s Corbyn met Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams a number of times. Corbyn consistently stated that he maintained links with Sinn Fein in order to work for a resolution to the armed conflict. According to The Sunday Times, Corbyn was involved in over 72 events connected with Sinn Féin or other pro-republican groups during the period of the IRA's paramilitary campaign.

Corbyn met Adams at the 1983 and 1989 Labour conferences (facilitated by pro-IRA Red Action) and in 1983 at Westminster, along with a number of other Labour MPs. In 1984, Corbyn and Ken Livingstone invited Adams, two convicted IRA volunteers and other members of Sinn Féin to Westminster.

During the 1980s he campaigned on behalf of the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six, who were wrongly convicted of responsibility for IRA bombings in England in the mid-1970s. In 1986, Corbyn was arrested with 15 demonstrators protesting against what they saw as weak evidence and poor treatment during the trial of a group of IRA members including Patrick Magee, who was convicted of the Brighton hotel bombing and other attacks. After refusing police requests to move from outside the court, Corbyn and the other protesters were arrested for obstruction and held for five hours before being released on bail, but were not charged.

In 1987, Corbyn attended a commemoration by the Wolfe Tone Society in London for eight IRA members who were killed by Special Air Service soldiers while attacking a Royal Ulster Constabulary police station in Loughgall, County Armagh. At the commemoration, he told his fellow attendees that "I'm happy to commemorate all those who died fighting for an independent Ireland" and attacked the British government's policies in Northern Ireland, calling for all British troops to be withdrawn from the region. Corbyn subsequently said that he had attended the event, which included a minute of silence for the eight IRA members, to "call for a peace and dialogue process".

He voted against the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, saying "We believe that the agreement strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a United Ireland oppose the agreement for that reason."

In the early 1990s, MI5 opened a file on Corbyn to monitor his links to the IRA.

In 1994, Corbyn signed a Commons motion condemning the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, which killed 21 people.

The meeting took place three weeks after the IRA's bombing of the Conservative Party leadership that killed five people. A short time after IRA plans to bomb London were foiled in 1996, Corbyn invited Adams to the House of Commons for a press conference to promote Adams' autobiography, Before the Dawn. Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam and Labour leader Tony Blair condemned the invitation, with Mowlam arguing that it was detrimental to the peace process, and Blair threatening disciplinary action. Adams cancelled the event, to save further embarrassment to Corbyn and to avoid negative publicity.

In 1998, he voted for the Good Friday Agreement, saying he looked forward to "peace, hope and reconciliation in Ireland in the future."

In 2017, Corbyn said that he had "never met the IRA", although Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott later clarified that although he had met members of the IRA, "he met with them in their capacity as activists in Sinn Fein".

Labour in government (1997–2010)

Corbyn in 2006

Between 1997 and 2010, during the New Labour governments, Corbyn was the Labour MP who voted most often against the party whip, including three-line whip votes. In 2005 he was identified as the second most rebellious Labour MP of all time during the New Labour governments.. He was the most rebellious Labour MP in the 1997–2001 Parliament, the 2001–2005 Parliament and the 2005–2010 Parliament, defying the whip 428 times while Labour was in power. Jacobin described him as "a figure who for decades challenged them [Labour Party elites] from the backbench as one of the most rebellious left-wing members of parliament".

Corbyn sat on the London Regional Select Committee from 2009 to 2010.

Stop the War Coalition and anti-war activism

Corbyn speaking at an anti-drone strike rally organised by the Stop the War Coalition in 2013

In October 2001, Corbyn was elected to the steering committee of the Stop the War Coalition, which was formed to oppose the War in Afghanistan which started later that year. In 2002, Corbyn reported unrest : "there is disquiet...about issues of foreign policy" among some members of the Labour party. He cited "the deployment of troops to Afghanistan and the threat of bombing Iraq" as examples. He was vehemently opposed to Britain's involvement in the Iraq War in 2003, and spoke at dozens of anti-war rallies in Britain and overseas. He spoke at the February anti-Iraq War protest which was said to be the largest such protest in British political history. At the same time, he expressed support for the Iraqi insurgency and the Palestinian intifada when he signed the second Cairo Declaration in December 2003, which said "The Iraqis themselves are now engaged in a titanic struggle to rid their country of occupying forces. The Palestinian intifada continues under the most difficult circumstances. The US administration threatens Iran and other countries on a daily basis. Now is the time to draw together the forces of resistance in the Arab world and from around the globe."

In 2006, Corbyn was one of 12 Labour MPs to support Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for a parliamentary inquiry into the Iraq War. He was elected chair of the coalition in succession to Andrew Murray in September 2011, but resigned once he became Leader of the Labour Party in September 2015.

Parliamentary groups and activism

Corbyn is a member of a number of Parliamentary Trade Union Groups: he is sponsored by several trade unions, including UNISON, Unite and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. He is a supporter of the Unite Against Fascism pressure group. Corbyn was chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Chagos Islands, chair of the APPG on Mexico, Vice-Chair of the APPG on Latin America and vice-chair of the APPG on Human Rights. He has advocated for the rights of the forcibly removed Chagossians to return to the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Corbyn addressing London's People's Assembly Demonstration in June 2014

Corbyn appeared on a call-in show on Press TV, an Iranian government television channel, several times between 2009 and 2012. He was criticised for appearing on the channel in light of Iran executing and imprisoning homosexuals, as well as Corbyn not questioning contributors who called the BBC "Zionist liars" and described Israel as a "disease". Corbyn said in response that he used the programme to address "human rights issues" and that his appearance fee was "not an enormous amount" and was used to help meet constituency office costs. Corbyn's final appearance was six months after the network was fined by Ofcom for its part in filming an interview with Maziar Bahari, an Iranian journalist, saying the interview had been held under duress and after torture.

Labour in opposition (2010–2015)

In the 2010 Labour Party leadership election, Corbyn supported Diane Abbott in the first round in which she was eliminated; thereafter, he supported Ed Miliband.

Corbyn was one of 16 signatories to an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling for Labour to make a commitment to opposing further austerity, to take rail franchises back into public ownership, and to strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.

Corbyn sat on the Justice Select Committee from 2010 to 2015. Before becoming party leader Corbyn had been returned as member of Parliament for Islington North seven times, gaining 60.24% of the vote and a majority of 21,194 in the 2015 general election.

Leadership of the Labour Party (2015–2020)

Main article: Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn

Leadership election

Main article: 2015 Labour Party leadership election (UK)

See also: 2015 Jeremy Corbyn Labour Party leadership campaign

Labour Party membership under recent leaders

         Labour Party full members (excluding affiliates and supporters)

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

1994 Tony Blair

2000

2006 G.Brown

2010 E.Miliband

2015 J.Corbyn

2019

Following the Labour Party's defeat at the general election on 7 May 2015, Ed Miliband resigned as its party leader, triggering a leadership election. Corbyn decided to stand as a candidate, having been disillusioned by the lack of a left-wing voice, and said to his local newspaper, The Islington Tribune, that he would have a "clear anti-austerity platform". He also said he would vote to scrap the Trident nuclear weapons system and would "seek to withdraw from Nato". He suggested that Britain should establish a national investment bank to boost house-building and improve economic growth and lift wages in areas that had less investment in infrastructure. He would also aim to eliminate the current budget deficit over time and restore the 50p top rate of income tax. He added: "This decision is in response to an overwhelming call by Labour Party members who want to see a broader range of candidates and a thorough debate about the future of the party. I am standing to give Labour Party members a voice in this debate". He indicated that, if he were elected, policies that he put forward would need to be approved by party members before being adopted and that he wanted to "implement the democratic will of our party". The other candidates were Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham and Shadow Care Minister Liz Kendall. Several who nominated Corbyn later said they had ensured he had enough votes to stand, more to widen the political debate within the party than because of a desire or expectation that he would win.

At the Second Reading of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill in July 2015, Corbyn joined 47 Labour MPs to oppose the Bill, describing it as "rotten and indefensible", whilst the other three leadership candidates abstained under direction from interim leader Harriet Harman. In August 2015, he called on Iain Duncan Smith to resign as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions after it was reported that thousands of disabled people had died after being found fit to work by Work Capability Assessments (instituted in 2008) between 2011 and 2014, although this was challenged by the government and by FullFact who said that the figure included those who had died and therefore their claim had ended, rather than being found fit for work.

Corbyn rapidly became the frontrunner among the candidates and was perceived to benefit from a large influx of new members. Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at the hustings across the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed "Corbynmania" by the press. Membership numbers continued to climb after the start of his leadership. In addition, following a rule change under Miliband, members of the public who supported Labour's aims and values could join the party as "registered supporters" for £3 and be entitled to vote in the election. There was speculation that the rule change would lead to Corbyn being elected by registered supporters without majority support from ordinary members. He was elected party leader in a landslide victory on 12 September 2015 with 59.5% of first-preference votes in the first round of voting. He would have won in the first round with 51% of votes, even without "£3 registered supporters", having gained the support of 49.6% of full members and 57.6% of affiliated supporters. His 40.5% majority was a larger proportional majority than that attained by Tony Blair in 1994. His margin of victory was said to be "the largest mandate ever won by a party leader".

An internal Labour Party report, entitled The work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019, which was leaked to the media in April 2020, stated that, during the 2015 and 2016 leadership contests staff members at Labour party headquarters looked for ways to exclude from voting members who they believed would vote for Corbyn. The staff members referred to this activity as "trot busting", "bashing trots" and "trot spotting".

Corbynmania

A rally in Bristol during Corbyn's leadership campaign in 2016. Corbyn returned to College Green in 2019 for an election rally but his reception was then less enthusiastic.

Corbyn was initially viewed as a token candidate for the left wing of the party and not expected to win. However, many new, young party members, who had joined after the membership fee had been reduced to £3, were attracted by what they saw as Corbyn's authentic, informal style and radical policies. Hundreds of supporters turned out to hear him speak at the hustings across the nation and their enthusiastic reception and support for him was dubbed "Corbynmania" by the press.

Jonathan Dean characterised Corbynmania as a political fandom, comparable with the enthusiastic followings of popular media stars and other modern politicians such as Bernie Sanders and Justin Trudeau. Specific features included use of the #jezwecan hashtag, attendance at rallies and the posting of pictures such as selfies on social media. Artistic, merchandising and other activity consolidated and spread this fannish enthusiasm. This included a "Jeremy Corbyn for Prime Minister" (JC4PM) tour by celebrities such as Charlotte Church, Jeremy Hardy and Maxine Peake; a Corbyn superhero comic book; mash-ups and videos. Many of Corbyn's supporters felt he possessed personal qualities such as earnestness and modesty leading them to develop a sense of emotional attachment to him as individual. These were seen as cultish by critics such as Margaret Beckett who said in 2016 that the Labour Party had been turned into the "Jeremy Corbyn Fan Club".

A chant of "Oh, Jeremy Corbyn" was adopted as an anthem or chorus by his supporters. Sung in the style of a football chant to the tune of a riff from "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, it attracted special attention at the Glastonbury Festival 2017, where Corbyn appeared and spoke to the crowds.

Labour's weaker-than-expected performance in the 2018 local elections led to suggestions that Corbynmania had peaked.

First term as Leader of the Opposition (2015–2017)

Corbyn speaking at the #StopTrident rally at Trafalgar Square on 27 February 2016

After being elected leader, Corbyn became Leader of the Official Opposition and shortly thereafter his appointment to the Privy Council was announced. In Corbyn's first Prime Minister's Questions session as leader, he broke with the traditional format by asking the Prime Minister six questions he had received from members of the public, the result of his invitation to Labour Party members to send suggestions, for which he received around 40,000 emails. Corbyn stressed his desire to reduce the "theatrical" nature of the House of Commons, and his début was described in a Guardian editorial as "a good start" and a "long overdue" change to the tone of PMQs. He delivered his first Labour Party Conference address as leader on 29 September 2015. Party membership nearly doubled between the May 2015 election and October 2015, attributed largely to the election as leader of Corbyn.

In September 2015 an unnamed senior serving general in the British Army stated that a mutiny by the Army could occur if a future Corbyn government moved to scrap Trident, pull out of Nato or reduce the size of the armed forces. The general said "the Army just wouldn't stand for it. The general staff would not allow a prime minister to jeopardise the security of this country and I think people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that. You can't put a maverick in charge of a country's security".

In July 2016, a study and analysis by academics from the London School of Economics of months of eight national newspaper articles about Corbyn in the first months of his leadership of Labour showed that 75% of them either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects.

First Shadow Cabinet and other appointments

Main article: Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn

On 13 September 2015, Corbyn unveiled his Shadow Cabinet. He appointed his leadership campaign manager and long-standing political ally John McDonnell as Shadow Chancellor, leadership opponent Andy Burnham as Shadow Home Secretary, and Angela Eagle as Shadow First Secretary of State to deputise for him in the House of Commons. Corbyn promoted a number of female backbench MPs to Shadow Cabinet roles, including Diane Abbott, Heidi Alexander and Lisa Nandy, making his the first Shadow Cabinet with more women than men, although the most senior roles went to men. In October 2015, Corbyn appointed The Guardian journalist Seumas Milne as the Labour Party's Executive Director of Strategy and Communications.

Military intervention in Syria

After members of Islamic State carried out terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, Corbyn agreed with David Cameron that a political settlement between the Syrian Government and the rebels should be aimed at resolving the Syrian civil war. Prime Minister David Cameron sought to build political consensus for UK military intervention against IS targets in Syria in the days after the attacks. Corbyn warned against "external intervention" in Syria but told delegates that Labour would "consider the proposals the Government brings forward".

After Cameron set out his case for military intervention to Parliament, Corbyn held a Shadow Cabinet meeting, in which he said he would continue with efforts "to reach a common view" on Syria, while Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn suggested the case for air strikes was "compelling". Corbyn sent a letter to Labour MPs saying that he could not support military action against Islamic State: "The issue [is] whether what the Prime Minister is proposing strengthens, or undermines, our national security...I do not believe the current proposal for air strikes in Syria will protect our security and therefore cannot support it." Amid widespread reports of division in the Parliamentary Labour Party, Corbyn insisted that the final decision on whether the Labour Party would oppose air strikes rested with him. Corbyn eventually agreed that Labour MPs would be given a free vote on air strikes when the issue was voted on. 66 Labour MPs voted for the Syrian air strikes, including Hilary Benn and Deputy Labour Leader Tom Watson, while Corbyn and the majority of Labour MPs voted against.

Corbyn and Hilary Benn meet with President Obama in April 2016

January 2016 Shadow Cabinet reshuffle

There was widespread speculation following the vote that Corbyn would reshuffle his Shadow Cabinet to remove Hilary Benn, but Corbyn's January reshuffle retained Benn in the same position. The reshuffle prompted the resignations of three junior shadow ministers who were unhappy that Corbyn had sacked or moved shadow ministers who disagreed with his position on Syria and Trident.

On 6 January 2016, Corbyn replaced Shadow Culture Secretary Michael Dugher with Shadow Defence Secretary Maria Eagle (who was in turn replaced by Shadow Employment Minister Emily Thornberry). Thornberry, unlike Maria Eagle, is an opponent of nuclear weapons and British involvement in Syria. Corbyn also replaced Shadow Europe Minister (not attending Shadow Cabinet) Pat McFadden with Pat Glass. On 11 January 2016, Shadow Attorney General Catherine McKinnell resigned, citing party infighting, family reasons and the ability to speak in Parliament beyond her legal portfolio. She was replaced by Karl Turner.

May 2016 local elections

In the 2016 local elections, Labour had a net loss of 18 local council seats and controlled as many councils as before (gaining control of Bristol but losing Dudley). There were also Westminster by-elections in two Labour safe seats, which Labour retained: Ogmore and Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough. The BBC's Projected National Vote Share was 31% for Labour, 30% for the Conservatives, 15% for the Liberal Democrats and 12% for UKIP. Labour candidate Sadiq Khan won the London mayorship from the Conservatives. Labour's misfortunes in Scotland continued, where they fell into third place behind the Conservatives. They retained government in Wales whilst suffering some small losses.

EU referendum

Further information: European Union

Following the 2016 United Kingdom European Union (EU) membership referendum, Corbyn was accused of "lukewarm" campaigning for Britain to remain and showing a "lack of leadership" on the issue by several party figures. Alan Johnson, who headed the Labour In for Britain campaign, said that "at times" it felt as if Corbyn's office was "working against the rest of the party and had conflicting objectives". Corbyn's decision to go on holiday during the campaign was also criticised by Phil Wilson, the chair of Labour In for Britain. In September 2016, Corbyn's spokesman said Corbyn wanted access to the European Single Market, but there were "aspects" of EU membership related to privatisation "which Jeremy campaigned against in the referendum campaign". Diane Abbott, one of Corbyn's key allies, later said "Jeremy in his heart of hearts is a Brexiter". She said Corbyn was hostile to the European Union, which he considered it "a conspiracy of business people".

Shadow Cabinet resignations and vote of no confidence

Main article: June 2016 British shadow cabinet resignations

Corbyn at the 2016 Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival

Three days after the EU referendum, on 26 June, Hilary Benn was sacked after it was disclosed that he had been organising a mass resignation of Shadow Cabinet members to force Corbyn to stand down. Several other Shadow Cabinet members resigned in solidarity with Benn and by the following day, 23 of the 31 Shadow Cabinet members had resigned their roles, as did seven parliamentary private secretaries. On the same day, 27 June, Corbyn announced changes to his Shadow Cabinet, moving Emily Thornberry (to Shadow Foreign Secretary), Diane Abbott (to Shadow Health Secretary), and appointing Pat Glass, Andy McDonald, Clive Lewis, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Kate Osamor, Rachael Maskell, Cat Smith and Dave Anderson to his Shadow Cabinet. Just two days later one of the newly appointed members, Pat Glass, resigned, saying "the situation is untenable".

A motion of no confidence in Corbyn as Labour leader was tabled by MPs Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey on 24 June 2016. Hodge said: "This has been a tumultuous referendum which has been a test of leadership ... Jeremy has failed that test". Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and union leaders including Len McCluskey condemned the motion.

On 28 June, he lost the vote of confidence by Labour Party MPs by 172–40. He responded with a statement that the motion had no "constitutional legitimacy" and that he intended to continue as the elected leader. The vote did not require the party to call a leadership election, but was expected to lead to a leadership challenge. Corbyn was encouraged to resign by Tom Watson and senior Labour politicians including his predecessor, Ed Miliband. Several union leaders (from GMB, UCATT, the CWU, the TSSA, ASLEF, the FBU, the BFWAU and the NUM) issued a joint statement saying that Corbyn was "the democratically-elected leader of Labour and his position should not be challenged except through the proper democratic procedures provided for in the party's constitution" and that a leadership election would be an "unnecessary distraction".

2016 leadership challenge and election

Main article: 2016 Labour Party leadership election (UK)

The division between Corbyn and the Labour parliamentary party continued. On 11 July 2016, Angela Eagle, who had recently resigned from his Shadow Cabinet, formally launched her leadership campaign. After news reports that Eagle's office had been vandalised, and threats and abuse to other MPs, including death threats to himself, Corbyn said: "It is extremely concerning that Angela Eagle has been the victim of a threatening act" and called for "respect and dignity, even where there is disagreement."

Corbyn at a leadership election rally in August 2016

On 12 July 2016, following a dispute as to whether the elected leader would need nominations in an election as a "challenger" to their own leadership, Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) resolved that Corbyn, as the incumbent leader, had an automatic right to be on the ballot, and also decided that members needed to have been a member for more than six months to be eligible to vote, meaning that many members who had joined recently would not be able to vote. The NEC's decision was that "registered supporters" would be entitled to vote if they paid a one off fee of £25. 184,541 people subsequently paid the one-off fee to become "registered supporters" of the party during the two-day window in July, meaning that over 700,000 people had a vote in the leadership election. The decision to retain Corbyn on the ballot was contested unsuccessfully in a High Court action brought by Labour donor Michael Foster.

On 13 July, Owen Smith entered the Labour Party leadership race. Subsequently, on 19 July, Angela Eagle withdrew and offered her endorsement to Smith.

Corbyn with his Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell at the 2016 Labour Party Conference

Corbyn with Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Tom Watson following re-election in 2016

A survey of the public on 14 July found that 66% of those surveyed believed that the Labour Party needed a new leader before the 2020 elections and only 23 per cent believed that Corbyn would make a good Prime Minister while Theresa May had an approval rating of 55 per cent. A later poll on 23 July found that among those who said they backed Labour, 54% supported Corbyn against just 22% who would prefer Smith. When voters were asked who they thought would be the best prime minister – Corbyn or Theresa May – among Labour supporters 48% said Corbyn and 22% May, among all UK voters 52% chose May and just 16% were for Corbyn.

More than 40 female Labour MPs, in an open letter during the campaign in July 2016, called on Corbyn to deal with issues relating to online abuse, and criticised him for his allegedly unsatisfactory responses and inaction. Speaking at the launch of policies intending to democratise the internet in late August, Corbyn described such abuse as "appalling". He continued: "I have set up a code of conduct on this. The Labour party has a code of conduct on this, and it does have to be dealt with".

On 16 August 2016, Corbyn released a video of himself sitting on the floor of a Virgin Trains East Coast train while travelling to a leadership hustings in Gateshead. Corbyn said the train was "ram-packed" and used this to support his policy to reverse the 1990s privatisation of the railways of Great Britain. A dispute, nicknamed Traingate in the media, developed a week later when Virgin released CCTV images appearing to show that Corbyn had walked past some available seats on the train before recording his video. Corbyn subsequently said that there had not been room for all his team to sit together, but that a train manager later found seats for him and his team, including his wife, by upgrading other passengers.

The psephologist John Curtice wrote just before Corbyn's second leadership win: "There is evidently a section of the British public, to be found particularly among younger voters, for whom the Labour leader does have an appeal; it just does not look like a section that is big enough, on its own at least, to enable Labour to win a general election". Meanwhile, on 23 September, a poll for The Independent by BMG Research suggested that working class voters were more likely to consider Corbyn "incompetent" than those from the middle class, and a higher proportion thought he was also "out of touch". Martin Kettle of The Guardian wrote that "many Labour MPs, even some who face defeat, want an early election" to prove decisively that Corbyn's Labour is unelectable as a government, stating that "If there is hope for Labour it lies with the voters. Only they can change the party".

Corbyn was re-elected as Labour leader on 24 September, with 313,209 votes (61.8%) compared to 193,229 (38.2%) for Owen Smith – a slightly increased share of the vote compared to his election in 2015, when he won 59%. On a turnout of 77.6%, Corbyn won the support of 59% of party members, 70% of registered supporters and 60% of affiliated supporters. In his acceptance speech, Corbyn called on the "Labour family" to end their divisions and to "wipe that slate clean from today and get on with the work we've got to do as a party". He continued: "Together, arguing for the real change this country needs, I have no doubt this party can win the next election whenever the Prime Minister decides to call it and form the next government."

Article 50

In January 2017, Corbyn announced that he would impose a three-line whip to force Labour MPs to vote in favour of triggering Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union to initiate the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. In response, two Labour whips said they would vote against the bill. Tulip Siddiq, the shadow minister for early years, and Jo Stevens, the Shadow Welsh Secretary resigned in protest. On 1 February, forty seven Labour MPs defied Corbyn's whip on the second reading of the bill.

May 2017 local elections

At the 2017 local elections, Labour lost nearly 400 councillors and control of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire county councils. The BBC's Projected National Vote Share was 38% for the Conservatives, 27% for Labour, 18% for the Liberal Democrats and 5% for UKIP, with others on around 12%.

2017 general election

Main article: 2017 United Kingdom general election

Corbyn with members of his Shadow Cabinet in EventCity, Greater Manchester, at the Labour Party 2017 General Election Launch

Corbyn said he welcomed May's proposal to seek an early general election in 2017. He said his party should support the government's move in the parliamentary vote. The Labour campaign focused on social issues like health care, education and ending austerity.

Earlier in the year, Corbyn had become the first opposition party leader since 1982 to lose a by-election to an incumbent government, and at the time May called the election Labour trailed the Conservative Party by up to 25 points in some opinion polls. A large Conservative majority was widely predicted. Following the short campaign, Labour again finished as the second largest party in parliament but surprised many pundits by increasing their share of the popular vote to 40%, resulting in a net gain of 30 seats and a hung parliament. Although Labour started the campaign as far as 20 points behind, it defied expectations by gaining 40% of the vote, its greatest share since 2001. It was the first time Labour had made a net gain of seats since 1997, and the party's 9.6% increase in vote share was its largest in a single general election since 1945. This has partly been attributed to the popularity of its 2017 Manifesto that promised to scrap tuition fees, address public sector pay, make housing more affordable, end austerity, nationalise the railways and provide school students with free lunches.

Corbyn's election campaign was run under the slogan "For the Many, Not the Few" and featured rallies with a large audience and connected with a grassroots following for the party, including appearing on stage in front of a crowd of 20,000 at the Wirral Live Festival in Prenton Park. He chose to take part in television debates and dressed more professionally than usual, wearing a business suit and tie. He said the result was a public call for the end of "austerity politics" and suggested May should step down as prime minister. Corbyn said that he had received the largest vote for a winning candidate in the history of his borough.

Leaked Labour Party report on antisemitism

In April 2020, an internal Labour Party report, entitled The work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019, was leaked to the media. The report was completed in the last months of Corbyn's leadership and was meant to form part of the Labour Party's submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) inquiry into Labour's approach to dealing with antisemitism. It included 10,000 emails and thousands of private WhatsApp communications between former senior party officials. The Labour Party had, after the intervention of party lawyers, decided not to submit the report to the EHRC.

According to the report there was "an abnormal intensity of factional opposition" to Corbyn which had "inhibited the proper functioning of the Labour Party bureaucracy". The report included what it alleges were examples of how senior Labour Party officials including former party general secretary Iain McNicol worked to undermine Labour's campaign in the 2017 general election in order to force a change of leader. The report revealed that senior party officials sent insulting WhatsApp messages about leftwing MPs, including Diane Abbott, and officials in Corbyn's office. Prior to the 2017 election, officials discussed using party resources to assist candidates critical of Corbyn, such as deputy leader Tom Watson. The report stated that officials operated a "secret key seats team from where a parallel general election campaign was run to support MPs associated with the right wing of the party". The officials expressed dismay over the party's unexpectedly strong results in the 2017 general election. In response to the report, Labour MP Kate Osamor called for the expulsion of those involved. In contrast New Statesman political editor Stephen Bush wrote in the New Statesman that the "report's summary writes a cheque that its findings cannot cash".

In May 2020, the Labour Party National Executive Committee (NEC) appointed barrister Martin Forde to chair an investigation into the leaked report on antisemitism. The inquiry was set up to examine the contents of the report as well as how it was authored and leaked. It was expected to release its findings in 2021, but was delayed indefinitely over concerns it could prejudice an investigation by the information commissioner into the leak, eventually being published in July 2022. In Corbyn's submission to the Forde inquiry, submitted jointly with eight other colleagues, he was reported to have accused officials of sabotage and said their diversion of funds could constitute fraud. The diverted funds refer to the "Bespoke Materials Service" (sometimes referred to as the 'Ergon House Project'), which represented 1.2 per cent of Labour's total election spend and was focused towards certain Labour-held seats rather than offensive targets. BMS was apparently not disclosed to Corbyn's office. Officials said their targeting was due to fears Labour would lose seats, based on its poor polling position at the start of the campaign, and that three of the seats supported by BMS were less than 500 votes away from being lost to the Conservatives. The 2017 campaigns chief, Patrick Heneghan also stated that Corbyn's office had demanded he divert funds towards a list of Labour-held seats, some with majorities of over 10,000, to help MPs were considered allies of Corbyn, including Ian Lavery and Jon Trickett. Heneghan said the use of funds in BMS was legal, as it had been authorised by the General Secretary, and stated it had been kept from Corbyn's office because staffers believed they were "in a bind" and "felt it was pointless to try and discuss this sensibly with Jeremy's staff".

The Guardian reported that "[w]hile the leaked report does show hostility to Corbyn during the 2017 election, and even dismay among some officials when he did better than expected, there is seemingly no proof of active obstruction" by Labour officials and that there was "an argument that any evidence of election-scuppering is circumstantial rather than a smoking gun". In July 2022, the Forde Report concluded that while the leader's office and party staff "were trying to win in different ways", it was "highly unlikely" this cost Labour the 2017 election (see Publication of Forde Report).

Opinion polling

Main articles: Opinion polling for the 2017 United Kingdom general election § Preferred Prime Minister polling, and Leadership approval opinion polling for the 2019 United Kingdom general election

Opinion polls during the first few months of his leadership gave Corbyn lower personal approval ratings than any previous Labour leader in the early stages of their leadership amongst the general public. His approval amongst party members was initially strong reaching a net approval of +45 in May 2016, though this fell back sharply to just +3 by the end of the next month following criticism of Corbyn's handling of the EU referendum and a string of Shadow Cabinet resignations.

A poll by Election Data in February 2017 found that 50% of Labour voters wanted Corbyn to stand down by the next election, while 44% wanted him to stay. In the same month, YouGov found party members' net approval rating of Corbyn was 17%, whereas a year earlier the result found by the same pollsters had been 55%. Also during February 2017, Ipsos MORI found Corbyn's satisfaction rating among the electorate as a whole was minus 38%; among Labour voters it was minus 9%.

Polling by the end of the first week of campaigning during the 2017 general election was suggesting a defeat for Labour with the parliamentary party much reduced and a landslide victory for the Conservatives with a majority of perhaps 150 MPs. An ITV Wales/YouGov poll at this time placed the Conservatives on 40% in Wales against Labour's 30%; Labour MPs have formed a majority in Wales since the 1922 election. An opinion poll published on 22 May suggested that the position had been reversed, with Labour now polling 44% in Wales and the Conservatives 34%. Polls following the publication of the Labour and Conservative manifestos suggested that nationally, Labour was narrowing the Conservative lead to nine points, with YouGov putting the party on 35% of the vote. The final election polls predicted an increased majority for the Conservatives.

Second term as Leader of the Opposition (2017–2019)

Corbyn in Shropshire in 2017, meeting local councillor Beryl Mason and former MEP David Hallam

June 2017 Shadow Cabinet dismissals

Corbyn sacked three Shadow Cabinet members and a fourth resigned after they rebelled against party orders to abstain on a motion aimed at keeping the UK in the EU single market, which was put forward by Labour MP Chuka Umunna.

Salisbury poisoning response

On 15 March 2018, Corbyn wrote in The Guardian that "to rush way ahead of the evidence" about Russia's involvement in the Salisbury poisoning "serves neither justice nor our national security" and that responsibility for the attack "is a matter for police and security professionals to determine". However, he also said that Theresa May was right "to identify two possibilities for the source of the attack in Salisbury [...] Either this was a crime authored by the Russian state; or that state has allowed these deadly toxins to slip out of the control it has an obligation to exercise." This sparked a row within the Labour Party, with more than 30 backbenchers signing an Early Day Motion "unequivocally" blaming Russia for the attack and several frontbenchers, including shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, stating that Russia was to blame. A poll on 17 March found only 16% of voters believed Corbyn would be the best person to deal with the UK's relations with Russia, compared to 39% saying Theresa May.

On 20 March, Corbyn called for the British authorities to send a sample of the nerve agent involved in the poisoning to Russia, so they could "say categorically one way or the other" where it came from. A few days later, Corbyn was satisfied that the evidence pointed to Russia. Polling between 10–13 April found only 23% of voters believed Corbyn had handled the situation well, with 44% (including 28% of 2017 Labour voters) believing he had handled it badly.

Corbyn advisor Andrew Murray later said that the Salisbury attack was "something we got wrong", saying "evidence that's emerged since is overwhelming". Murray said that at the time Corbyn and his team "just didn't think the Russian state would be so stupid and brazen as to [...] carry out a poisoning attack on British soil", although he admitted "given the Litvinenko precedent perhaps we should have done". Murray also suggested the response was the turning point for Corbyn's leadership, as it "started bringing all the doubts about Jeremy and the leader's office to the surface again".

Developments of the Labour Party's Brexit policies

Following the 2017 general election, the party faced internal pressure to shift its Brexit policy away from a soft Brexit and towards a second referendum, a position widely supported among the party membership. In response, Corbyn said at the 2018 Labour Party conference that he did not support a second referendum but would abide by the decision of members at the conference. The party conference decided to support a Brexit deal either negotiated by the Conservatives and meeting certain conditions or negotiated by Labour in government. The conference agreed to use all means to stop an unacceptable Brexit deal, including another referendum including an option to remain in the EU, as a last resort. A week after seven Labour MPs left the party in February 2019 to form The Independent Group, partly in protest over Labour's Brexit position, the Labour leadership said it would support another referendum "as a final resort in order to stop a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country". Following an exodus of Remain voters from Labour at the 2019 European Parliament elections, Corbyn said he was "listening very carefully" after key members of his Shadow Cabinet including John McDonnell said publicly Labour should back a second referendum under any circumstances. In July 2019, Corbyn announced Labour's policy was now that there must be a referendum on any Brexit deal, including the deal Labour would attempt to negotiate if it entered government, and that the party would campaign for Remain against any Tory Brexit. During the 2019 election Corbyn would promise to take a "neutral stance" during the referendum on any Brexit deal his government would negotiate.

Breakaway group of Labour MPs

In February 2019, seven MPs – Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey – resigned from the Labour Party to form The Independent Group, citing Corbyn's handling of Brexit and of allegations of antisemitism. They were soon joined by Joan Ryan, while Ian Austin resigned to sit as an independent. TIG later rebranded as Change UK, and all of the defecting MPs left Parliament at the 2019 general election, with some losing their seats, others not seeking re-election, and some standing and losing in different constituencies from the ones that they had previously held.

Other events

In 2018, Conservative MP Ben Bradley posted a tweet saying that Jeremy Corbyn had passed British secrets to a spy from communist Czechoslovakia. Corbyn threatened legal action against Bradley, which resulted in Bradley deleting the tweet, apologising for his comments which he accepted were "untrue and false", and agreeing to pay Corbyn's legal costs and to donate to a charity of Corbyn's choice.

In March 2019, Corbyn was assaulted by a Brexit supporter outside a mosque in Finsbury Park, North London. His attacker was sentenced to 28 days in jail.

A video of soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, stationed in Afghanistan using an image of Corbyn for target practice was posted on social media in April 2019. Momentum said the video due to the "radicalising effect the rightwing press is having". The Independent expressed the view that Corbyn was "unpopular in parts of the military because of his past policies on Northern Ireland, Trident and opposition to the Iraq War and other foreign interventions". In July 2019, the soldiers involved received reprimands, with two being demoted.

In 2019, Corbyn refused an invitation to attend a state banquet for Donald Trump, hosted by Queen Elizabeth II during the president's June visit to the UK. Corbyn then attended a London protest outside Trump and May's joint press conference and requested a meeting with Trump to discuss issues such as the "climate emergency, threats to peace and the refugee crisis". Trump rejected the request, saying that Corbyn was a "negative force".

2019 general election and resignation

Main article: 2019 United Kingdom general election

Corbyn launching the Labour Party's 2019 general election campaign

In May 2019, Theresa May announced her resignation and stood down as prime minister in July, following the election of her replacement, former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Corbyn said that Labour was ready to fight an election against Johnson.

Corbyn campaigning in the December 2019 general election at Nottingham Castle

The 2019 Labour Party Manifesto included policies to increase funding for health, negotiate a Brexit deal and hold a referendum giving a choice between the deal and remain, raise the minimum wage, stop the age pension age increase, nationalise key industries, and replace universal credit. Due to the plans to nationalise the "big six" energy firms, the National Grid, the water industry, Royal Mail, the railways and the broadband arm of BT, the 2019 manifesto was widely considered as the most radical in several decades, more closely resembling Labour's politics of the 1970s than subsequent decades.

The 2019 general election was the worst defeat in seats for Labour since 1935, with Labour winning just 202 out of 650 seats, their fourth successive election defeat. At 32.2%, Labour's share of the vote was down around eight points on the 2017 general election and is lower than that achieved by Neil Kinnock in 1992, although it was higher than in 2010 and 2015. In the aftermath, opinions differed to why the Labour Party was defeated to the extent it was. The Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell largely blamed Brexit and the media representation of the party. Tony Blair argued that the party's unclear position on Brexit and the economic policy pursued by the Corbyn leadership were to blame.

Following the Labour Party's unsuccessful performance in the 2019 general election, Corbyn conceded defeat and stated that he intended to step down as leader following the election of a successor and that he would not lead the party into the next election. Corbyn himself was re-elected for Islington North with 64.3% of the vote share and a majority of 26,188 votes over the runner-up candidate representing the Liberal Democrats, with Labour's share of the vote falling by 8.7%. The Guardian described the results as a "realignment" of UK politics as the Conservative landslide took many traditionally Labour seats in England and Wales. Corbyn insisted that he had "pride in the manifesto" that Labour put forward and blamed the defeat on Brexit. According to polling by Lord Ashcroft, Corbyn was himself a major contribution to the party's defeat.

On 4 April 2020, the results of the 2020 Labour Party leadership election were announced, with Sir Keir Starmer winning the election and succeeding Corbyn as the leader of the Labour Party.

Opinion polling

In the months following the 2017 election, Labour consistently had a small lead in opinion polling. After Boris Johnson became prime minister in July 2019, he gained double-digit leads over Corbyn on the "Best PM" question, although Corbyn was seen to be "more in touch" with ordinary people than Johnson. Labour fell behind the Conservatives, partly because it lost some of its pro-Remain support to the Liberal Democrats.

Post-leadership

Corbyn in 2020

EHRC report and suspension

On 29 October 2020, a report by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission into antisemitism in the Labour Party was published, finding that the party was responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination. In response to the report, Corbyn said that while antisemitism was "absolutely abhorrent" and that "one anti-Semite [in the Labour Party] is one too many", he said that "the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media". He further said that "the public perception in an opinion poll last year was that one third of all Labour party members were somehow or other under suspicion of antisemitism. The reality is, it was 0.3 per cent of party members had a case against them which had to be put through the process." A fact check by Channel 4 News noted that Corbyn's "0.3 per cent" claim was likely based on an estimate provided by Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby during her investigation and first published in a 2019 study co-authored by media scholar Greg Philo. Corbyn's claim that "one-third" of party members were believed to be involved in antisemitism complaints by the public likely originated in a Survation poll of 1,009 people conducted in 2019, in which the average perception of respondents familiar with the issue was that 34% of party members were involved in antisemitism complaints; this number is over 300 times the estimate arrived at by Formby's actual investigation.

In his press conference around half an hour after Corbyn's statement, Starmer said that anyone who thought the problems were "exaggerated" or were a "factional attack" were "part of the problem and... should be nowhere near the Labour Party". Corbyn defended his comments in a TV interview later that day; shortly after it aired, the Labour Party announced that it had suspended Corbyn pending an investigation. Corbyn's suspension was welcomed by Labour figures including Margaret Hodge, and Harriet Harman, as well as by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Corbyn stated he would "strongly contest" his suspension. John McDonnell, Unite leader Len McCluskey, and Momentum expressed opposition to Corbyn's suspension.

On 17 November 2020, a panel drawn from the party's national executive committee decided to readmit Corbyn to the Labour Party. However, Starmer did not restore the Labour whip to Corbyn, effectively denying him readmission to the parliamentary party, saying that he would "keep this situation under review". On 23 November 2020, the Labour chief whip Nick Brown wrote to Corbyn asking him to "unequivocally, unambiguously and without reservation apologise for your comments". In November 2021, Starmer said Corbyn "knows what he must do in order to move this forward" and that it was "his choice". He also stated that Corbyn might not be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate in Islington North unless the whip was restored. Corbyn believes his dismissal was unfair and has threatened legal action.

In March 2023, Labour's national executive committee resolved not to endorse Corbyn in the next general election, preventing him from seeking re-election as a Labour candidate. A YouGov opinion poll that month found that 41% of Labour voters thought this was the wrong decision compared to 36% who thought this was the right decision, though amongst all voters 48% agreed with the decision compared to 27% who disagreed.

Peace and Justice Project

Main article: Peace and Justice Project

On 13 December 2020, Corbyn announced the Project for Peace and Justice. Corbyn launched the project on 17 January 2021, and its affiliates include Christine Blower, Len McCluskey and Zarah Sultana. Rafael Correa said that he "welcome[d] the creation" of the project.

Stop the War Coalition statement on Ukraine crisis

Corbyn addresses the March Against Racism in Parliament Square, March 2022

On 18 February 2022, in the week before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Corbyn alongside 11 Labour MPs cosigned a statement from the Stop the War Coalition opposing any war in Ukraine. The statement said that "the crisis should be settled on a basis which recognises the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination and addresses Russia's security concerns", that NATO "should call a halt to its eastward expansion", and that the British government's sending of arms to Ukraine and troops to eastern Europe served "no purpose other than inflaming tensions and indicating disdain for Russian concerns". The statement's authors also said that they "refute [sic] the idea that NATO is a defensive alliance".

On the evening of 24 February, the first day of the invasion, Labour chief whip Alan Campbell wrote to all 11 Labour MPs who had signed the statement, requesting that they withdraw their signatures. All 11 agreed to do so the same evening. Corbyn and fellow former Labour independent MP Claudia Webbe did not withdraw their signatures from the statement, though Labour shadow foreign secretary David Lammy urged Corbyn to do so.

Publication of the Forde Report

The Forde Report, written by lawyer Martin Forde in response to the dossier that was leaked in April 2020 (The work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014–2019), was released on 19 July 2022, stating that: "[R]ather than confront the paramount need to deal with the profoundly serious issue of anti-Semitism in the party, both factions treated it as a factional weapon." It also described senior Labour staff as having displayed "deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes" towards Corbyn and his supporters, and detailed concerns by some staff about a "hierarchy of racism" in the party which ignored Black people. The report also expressed regret that Corbyn himself did not engage with the authors' request to interview him.

Responding to this, Corbyn's former advisor Andrew Fisher wrote: "Forde confirms that reflection is necessary. Cultural change requires painstaking work, not glib assertions of change." Corbyn himself stated that report "calls into question the behaviour of senior officials in the party, in particular during the 2017 election" and that "wrongs must be righted."

Expulsion from the Labour Party and 2024 general election

Main article: Islington North in the 2024 general election

Media speculation that Corbyn would contest the 2024 general election as an Independent was reported in October 2023. Despite "unanimous support" from his Constituency Labour Party (CLP), Corbyn was not permitted to stand as a Labour parliamentary candidate. After announcing on 24 May 2024 that he would stand as an independent parliamentary candidate for Islington North, he was fully expelled from the Labour Party. He has been endorsed by Mick Lynch of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.

Corbyn responded to Starmer's claim of knowing the party would lose the 2019 election by saying "Well, he never said that to me, at any time. And so I just think rewriting history is no help. It shows double standards, shall we say, that he now says he always thought that but he never said it at the time or anything about it. He was part of the campaign. He and I spoke together at events and I find it actually quite sad."

Policies and views

Main article: Political positions of Jeremy Corbyn

Corbyn self-identifies as a socialist. He has also been referred to as a "mainstream [Scandinavian] social democrat". He advocates reversing austerity cuts to public services and some welfare funding made since 2010, as well as renationalisation of public utilities and the railways. A longstanding anti-war and anti-nuclear activist, he supports a foreign policy of military non-interventionism and unilateral nuclear disarmament. Writer Ronan Bennett, who formerly worked as a research assistant to Corbyn, has described him as "a kind of vegan, pacifist idealist, one with a clear understanding of politics and history, and a commitment to the underdog".

In 1997, the political scientists David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh described Corbyn's political stance as "far-left". Corbyn has described Karl Marx as a "great economist" and said he has read some of the works of Adam Smith, Marx and David Ricardo and has "looked at many, many others". However, some have argued that Corbyn is less radical than previously described: for example, the journalist George Eaton has called him "Keynesian". In 2023, The Daily Telegraph reported that most of the tax policies in Corbyn's 2019 general election manifesto had been implemented by the winning Conservative government, including a higher corporation tax, a windfall tax on oil companies, a reduction in annual tax allowances on dividend income, raising income tax on high earners, and introducing a digital services tax on online retailers.

Allegations of antisemitism

Main article: Antisemitism in the British Labour Party

Allegations of antisemitism within the party grew during Corbyn's leadership. Incidents involving Naz Shah in 2014 and Ken Livingstone in 2016 resulted in their suspension from party membership pending investigation. In response, Corbyn established the Chakrabarti Inquiry, which concluded that while the party was not "overrun by anti-Semitism or other forms of racism," there was an "occasionally toxic atmosphere" and "clear evidence of ignorant attitudes."

In 2017, Labour Party rules were amended to categorize hate speech, including antisemitism, as a disciplinary matter. In 2018, Corbyn faced scrutiny for his response in 2012 to an allegedly antisemitic mural and for his association with Facebook groups, mainly pro-Palestinian, containing antisemitic posts. Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) adopted a definition of antisemitism, for disciplinary purposes, in July of that year, aligning with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition, with modified examples related to criticism of Israel.

In September 2018, the NEC incorporated all 11 IHRA examples, unamended, into the party's code of conduct.

In May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) launched an inquiry into whether Labour had "unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish." In October 2020, the EHRC published its report, determining that the party was "responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination." The EHRC found 23 instances of political interference and concluded that Labour breached the Equality Act in two cases. Corbyn was subsequently suspended from the Labour Party and had the party whip removed on 29 October 2020 "for a failure to retract" his assertion that the scale of antisemitism within Labour had been overstated by opponents.

Media coverage

Analyses of domestic media coverage of Corbyn have found it to be critical or antagonistic. In July 2016, academics from the London School of Economics published a study of 812 articles about Corbyn taken from eight national newspapers around the time of his Labour leadership election. The study found that 75 percent of the articles either distorted or failed to represent his actual views on subjects. The study's director commented that "Our analysis shows that Corbyn was thoroughly delegitimised as a political actor from the moment he became a prominent candidate and even more so after he was elected as party leader".

Another report by the Media Reform Coalition and Birkbeck College in July 2016, based on 10 days of coverage around the time of multiple shadow cabinet resignations, found "marked and persistent imbalance" in favour of sources critical to him; the International Business Times was the only outlet that gave him more favourable than critical coverage.

In August 2016, a YouGov survey found that 97% of Corbyn supporters agreed that the "mainstream media as a whole has been deliberately biasing coverage to portray Jeremy Corbyn in a negative manner", as did 51% of the general "Labour selectorate" sample.

In May 2017, Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture concluded that the media was attacking Jeremy Corbyn far more than Theresa May during nine election campaign weekdays examined. The Daily Mail and Daily Express praised Theresa May for election pledges that were condemned when proposed by Labour in previous elections.

In February 2018, Momentum reported that attacks on Corbyn in the press were associated with increases in their membership applications. In September 2019, Labour leaders argued that traditional mainstream media outlets showed bias.

In December 2019, a study by Loughborough University found that British press coverage was twice as hostile to Labour and half as critical of the Conservatives during the 2019 general election campaign as it had been during the 2017 campaign.

In an interview with Middle East Eye in June 2020, Corbyn described the media's treatment of himself while he was Labour leader as obsessive and "at one level laughable, but all designed to be undermining". He said that the media coverage had diverted his media team from helping him pursue "a political agenda on homelessness, on poverty in Britain, on housing, on international issues" to "rebutting these crazy stories, abusive stories, about me the whole time". He said he considered suing as a result of media treatment but was guided by advice from Tony Benn, who told him, "Libel is a rich man's game, and you're not a rich man [...] Go to a libel case – even if you win the case, you'll be destroyed financially in doing so".

Personal life

Corbyn lives in the Finsbury Park area of London. He has been married three times and divorced twice, and has three sons with his second wife. In 1974, he married his first wife, Jane Chapman, a fellow Labour Councillor for Haringey and now a professor at the University of Lincoln. They divorced in 1979. In the late 1970s, Corbyn had a brief relationship with Labour MP Diane Abbott.

In 1987, Corbyn married Chilean exile Claudia Bracchitta, granddaughter of Ricardo Bracchitta (Consul-General of Spain in Santiago), with whom he has three sons. He missed his youngest son's birth as he was lecturing National Union of Public Employees members at the same hospital. Following a difference of opinion about sending their son to a grammar school (Corbyn opposes selective education), they divorced in 1999 after two years of separation, although Corbyn said in June 2015 that he continues to "get on very well" with her. His son subsequently attended Queen Elizabeth's School, which had been his wife's first choice. Their second son, Sebastian, worked on his leadership campaign and was later employed as John McDonnell's Chief of Staff.

Corbyn's second-eldest brother, Andrew, who was a geologist, died of a brain haemorrhage while in Papua New Guinea in 2001. Corbyn escorted the body from Papua New Guinea to Australia, where his brother's widow and children lived.

In 2012, Corbyn went to Mexico to marry his Mexican partner Laura Álvarez, who runs a fair trade coffee import business that has been the subject of some controversy. A former human rights lawyer in Mexico, she first met Corbyn shortly after his divorce from Bracchitta, having come to London to support her sister Marcela following the abduction of her niece to America by her sister's estranged husband. They contacted fellow Labour MP Tony Benn for assistance, who introduced them to Corbyn, who met with the police on their behalf and spoke at fundraisers until the girl was located in 2003. Álvarez then returned to Mexico, with the couple maintaining a long-distance relationship until she moved to London in 2011. Álvarez has described Corbyn as "not very good at house work but he is a good politician". They have a cat called El Gato ("The Cat" in Spanish), while Corbyn had previously owned a dog called Mango, described by The Observer in 1984 as his "only constant companion" at the time.

Corbyn named John Smith as the former Labour leader whom he most admired, describing him as "a decent, nice, inclusive leader". He also said he was "very close and very good friends" with Michael Foot.

Personal beliefs and interests

When interviewed by The Huffington Post in December 2015, Corbyn refused to reveal his religious beliefs and called them a "private thing", but denied that he was an atheist. He has said that he is "sceptical" of having a god in his life. He compared his concerns about the environment to a sort of "spiritualism". Corbyn has described himself as frugal, telling Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian: "I don't spend a lot of money, I lead a very normal life, I ride a bicycle and I don't have a car." He has been a vegetarian for nearly 50 years, after having volunteered on a pig farm in Jamaica when he was 19, and stated in April 2018 that he was considering becoming a vegan. Although he has been described in the media as teetotal, he said in an interview with the Daily Mirror that he does drink alcohol but "very, very little".

Corbyn is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling. He enjoys reading and writing, and speaks fluent Spanish. He supports Arsenal FC, which is based in his constituency, and has signed parliamentary motions praising the successes of its men's and women's teams. He named Jens Lehmann, Ian Wright, and Dennis Bergkamp as his favourite Arsenal players, and has campaigned for the club to pay its staff a living wage. Corbyn is an avid "drain spotter" and has photographed decorative drain and manhole covers throughout the country.

Corbyn co-edited with Len McCluskey the anthology Poetry for the Many, published in November 2023 by OR Books.

Awards and recognition

In 2013, Corbyn was awarded the Gandhi International Peace Award for his "consistent efforts over a 30-year parliamentary career to uphold the Gandhian values of social justice and non‐violence". In the same year, he was honoured by the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative for his "ongoing support for a number of non-government organisations and civil causes". Corbyn has won the Parliamentary "Beard of the Year Award" a record six times, as well as being named as the Beard Liberation Front's Beard of the Year, having previously described his beard as "a form of dissent" against New Labour.

In 2016, Corbyn was the subject of a musical entitled Corbyn the Musical: The Motorcycle Diaries, written by journalists Rupert Myers and Bobby Friedman.

In 2017 the American magazine Foreign Policy named Corbyn in its Top 100 Global Thinkers list for that year "for inspiring a new generation to re-engage in politics". In December 2017 he was one of three recipients awarded the Seán MacBride Peace Prize "for his sustained and powerful political work for disarmament and peace". The award was announced the previous September.

See also

• Electoral history of Jeremy Corbyn
• List of peace activists

Further reading

• Allen, Peter. "Political science, punditry, and the Corbyn problem". British Politics 15.1 (2020): 69–87 online.
• Bolton, Matthew. "Conceptual Vandalism, Historical Distortion: The Labour Antisemitism Crisis and the Limits of Class Instrumentalism". Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism 3.2 (2020) online Archived 4 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine.
• Bolton, Matt, and Frederick Harry Pitts, eds. Corbynism: A Critical Approach (Bingley: Emerald, 2018).
• Bower, Tom. Dangerous Hero: Corbyn's Ruthless Plot for Power (2019) ISBN 978-0-008-29957-6
• Cammaerts, Bart, Brooks DeCillia, and João Carlos Magalhães. "Journalistic transgressions in the representation of Jeremy Corbyn: From watchdog to attackdog". Journalism 21.2 (2020): 191–208 online.
• Cawthorne, Nigel. Jeremy Corbyn: Leading from the Left. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015 ISBN 978-1516971893
• Crick, Michael (10 March 2016). Militant. London: Biteback Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78590-029-7.
• Gilbert, W. Stephen. Jeremy Corbyn: Accidental Hero. London: Eyeware Publishing Ltd (Squint Books series), 2015. ISBN 978-1-908998-89-7.
• Hedges, Paul, and Luca Farrow. "UK Elections: Jeremy Corbyn, Anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia". RSIS Commentaries (2 January 2020) online.
• Knight, Sam (23 May 2016). "Enter Left: will a fervent socialist reshape British politics or lead his party to irrelevance?". Letter from London. The New Yorker. Vol. 92, no. 15. pp. 28–35.
• Manwaring, Rob, and Evan Smith. "Corbyn, British labour and policy change". British Politics 15.1 (2020): 25–47 online.
• Mueller, Frank, Andrea Whittle, and Gyuzel Gadelshina. "The discursive construction of authenticity: The case of Jeremy Corbyn". Discourse, Context & Media 31 (2019): 100324 online.
• Prince, Rosa. Comrade Corbyn: A Very Unlikely Coup: How Jeremy Corbyn Stormed to the Labour Leadership (Biteback Publishing, 2016) ISBN 978-1849549967
• Sayle, Alexei (narrator) (January 2023). Oh, Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie. Platform Films – via YouTube. (59 mins)
• Seymour, Richard. Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics. Verso Books, 2016. ISBN 9781784785314
• Sinha, Paresha, Owain Smolović Jones, and Brigid Carroll. "Theorizing dramaturgical resistance leadership from the leadership campaigns of Jeremy Corbyn". Human Relations (2019): 0018726719887310. online
• Watts, Jake, and Tim Bale. "Populism as an intra-party phenomenon: The British Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn". British Journal of Politics and International Relations 21.1 (2019): 99–115 online
• Whiteley, Paul and others. "Oh Jeremy Corbyn! Why did Labour Party membership soar after the 2015 general election?". British Journal of Politics and International Relations 21.1 (2019): 80–98. online

External links

• Official website
• Jeremy Corbyn on X
• Campaign website for the 2024 general election
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Appearances on C-SPAN