Jeremy Corbyn is a British politician. He belongs to the left wing of the Labour Party. On September the 12th, 2015, he was elected to the leadership of the Labour Party and became the leader of the official opposition. On September 21st, 2016, he did it again, despite all protests.
The man has many principles. Indeed, Corbyn is vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and he also campaigned against apartheid in South Africa. Besides, he is a member of Amnesty International and takes position in favor of animal rights (actually, he is a vegetarian) and a better knowledge about the danger of global warning.
During Blair’s Labour government, Corbyn publicly denounced what he perceived as violations of human rights and public liberties. He was a member of the steering committee of the Stop the War coalition, which campaigned against the Irak War in 2003. Between 2005 and 2015, he voted against the instructions of the Labour Whip 148 times ! That makes him the « most rebellious Labour MP »)
In 2015, he competed for the leadership of the Labour Party. Corbyn pledged to stand on a “clear anti-austerity platform ». He had the support of most of the unions and wanted to « bury New Labour » : the fact that he was said to be the favourite by the pollsters came as a surprise. As a consequence, his rivals ran a campaign against him. Indeed, they considered him to be too far to the left. Meanwhile, the number of supporters of the Labour Party rose from 200, 000 to 300, 000.
On September the 12th 2015, he was elected with 59.5% of the votes. He became at the same time, the leader of the Official Opposition. Prime Minister David Cameron said that « The Labour Party is now a threat to our national security, our economic security and your family’s security. ».
In 2016, he took position against Great Britain leaving the EU. A third of his voters voted for Brexit during the referendum, and Corbyn had to deal with an important rebellion inside the party and the resignation of most of the members of his cabinet. All those protests led to a new election for the leadership of the Labour Party.
Corbyn was re-elected with an overwhelming majority (61,80%) : the members of the party confirmed the choice they had already made in 2015 and that’s a huge surprise for most of the media. He is well decided to turn the page of Blairism.
Some words you might need and use in essay :
- the steering committee : le comité de direction
- to pledge : promettre, s’engager
- the unions : les syndicats
- the pollsters : les instituts de sondage
- the resignation : la démission
- an overwhelming majority : une majorité écrasante
