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Jeremy Bernard Corbyn | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | 26 May 1949 (aged 75) Chippenham, Wiltshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political orientation | Social Democracy |
| Political party | Independent Labour (1965-2024) |
| Website | |
| https://jeremycorbyn.org.uk/ | |
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2015 to 2020. Corbyn's views made him the target of sabotage by the neoliberals of the Labour Party, leading to him losing the 2019 general election to incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Corbyn is a social democrat, though has more Marxist-leaning views than is typical of a social democrat.[1] Corbyn campaigned against the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and typically supports a non-interventionist foreign policy.
Early Life[edit | edit source]
Corbyn was born on 26 May 1949 in Chippenham, Wiltshire, the youngest of four brothers. The second youngest brother, Piers Corbyn, would go on to be a climate change denying conspiracy theorist and affiliate himself with Trotskyist organisation, International Marxist Group (IMG).[2]
Political career[edit | edit source]
Member of Parliament[edit | edit source]
In 1983 Corbyn became Labour MP for Islington North, a seat which he has held ever since for the last forty years.[3]
In 1983 Corbyn defended the Trotskyist group Militant Tendency against Labour leader Neil Kinnock's efforts to expel them from the party. Then in 1988 he called for the Soviet Union to rehabilitate traitors to the revolution, Leon Trotsky and his son Leon Sedov.[4] In 1989 Corbyn supported the restoration of capitalism in Eastern Europe collaborating with Trotskyists hoping to install their own regime in the power vacuum.[5]
In parliament he served on the Social Security Committee (1992-2007), the London Regional Select Committee (2009-2010) and the Justice Committee (2011-2015).[3]
Leader of the Labour Party[edit | edit source]
Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour Party in 2015 where he contested a leadership challenge and two general elections. Corbyn's social democratic leadership is considered to be one of the most left wing periods of leadership the Labour Party has ever had, a distinction most likely drawn from the right wing period of Blair. Corbyn's lukewarm polices, which lead to his huge popularity among the youth, were seen as a threat to the Bourgeois who engaged on a relentless campaign to destroy his reputation.[6]
Corbyn's time as leader of the opposition was marred by constant accusations of antisemitism for Corbyn's unrepentant support of Palestine. The British establishment along with many in Corbyn's own party deemed that Anti-Zionism was antisemitic so used this as a weapon to bludgeon Corbyn with.[6] This smear campaign based on lies along with his position on Brexit were the main contributing factors for Corbyn's downfall as by the time the 2019 general election came, his reputation was in tatters, and the sitting Conservative Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, won in a landslide. Following the election, Corbyn was forced to resign as party leader, and in 2020 he was succeeded by Keir Starmer, who continued with the anti-Corbyn campaign.[1]
Independent[edit | edit source]
On 29 October 2020, Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from membership of the Labour party and had the whip withdrawn from him after being accused of allowing antisemitism in the party. Corbyn responded that the claims of antisemitism were overblown for political reasons and in response Starmer accused Corbyn of being a denier of antisemitism.[7] Corbyn continued to sit in the Commons as an independent and was blocked from standing in his constituency as a Labour candidate in March 2023 by Starmer.[8]
When the July 2024 general election was called Corbyn announced himself to be running as an independent leading to his expulsion from Labour. Corbyn continued to enjoy overwhelming popularity in his own constituency and even without being in a party managed to win his seat with 24,120 votes to the 16,873 votes achieved by Labour candidate Praful Nargund. Corbyn remains critical of Starmer's neoliberal policies and plans to attempt to hold his party to account in parliament.[8]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “There is nothing in Corbyn’s political and economic propositions, nothing in his foreign and internal policy stance, that could be described as truly socialistic, in the Marxist understanding of that term. Corbyn is not a Marxist.”
The Rise and Fall of Project Corbyn (2020). [PDF] CPGB-ML. ISBN 978-1-913286-01-9 - ↑ Tim Adams (2016-01-24). "Piers Corbyn: the other rebel in the family" The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2016-01-24.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jeremy Corbyn (2023). "About me" Retrieved 2023-12-05.
- ↑ Kenneth D. Ackerman (2016-08-23). "Is UK's Jeremy Corbyn a Trotskyist? Seriously" Huffpost. Archived from the original on 2020-08-14.
- ↑ James Ivens (2018-02-18). "Corbyn didn’t collaborate with Stalinism – but with Trotskyists against it" Socialist Party. Archived from the original on 2024-03-27.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jonathan Cook (2019-04-05). "Antisemitism is cover for a much deeper divide in Britain’s Labour party" Proletarian. Archived from the original on 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
- ↑ Harpal Brar (2020-11-11). "Jeremy Corbyn suspended from the Labour party" Proletarian. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Henry Dyer (2024-07-05). "Jeremy Corbyn re-elected in Islington North after expulsion from Labour" Guardian.