New Times,
New Thinking.

Jeremy Corbyn elected Labour leader

The veteran leftwinger - who started the race as a 100/1 outsider - has triumphed in the race to replace Ed Miliband. 

By Stephen Bush

Jeremy Corbyn has triumphed in the Labour leadership race, defeating Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall. He won on the first round, with 59.5 per cent of the vote.

The Islington North MP has shocked the pundits and the bookmakers alike – when the veteran leftwinger entered the race, William Hill gave him odds of 600 to one. Even his local paper restricted him to a nib. He made it onto the ballot with just seconds to spare, and few believed he could go the distance.

But early polling of the contest, seen by the New Statesman on 15 July, put Corbyn in a commanding position. A YouGov poll for the Times confirmed the story. The win not only represents a triumph for Labour’s left wing, but a rehabilitation for the troubled pollster, which was badly burned by their failure to call the 2015 election correctly. 

Content from our partners
How the UK can lead the transition to net zero
We can eliminate cervical cancer
Leveraging Search AI to build a resilient future is mission-critical for the public sector

Give a gift subscription to the New Statesman this Christmas from just £49