By Iara Kaiser
Millions of Labour party supporters across Britain were ecstatic, on Saturday, as Jeremy Corbyn became the newest leader of the Labour Party with a landslide victory. The long standing backbencher, known well for his rebellious opinions, won a massive 59.5 per cent of the vote, eclipsing Tony Blair's strong win in 1994 (57 per cent). His closest competition, Andy Burnham only managed to amass 19 per cent of the vote, followed by 17 per cent for Yvette Cooper and 4.5 per cent for Liz Kendall.
Corbyn, an anti-war, pro Palestinian, anti-austerity parliamentary veteran will be facing David Cameron in Prime Ministers Questions for the first time this Wednesday.
Tom Watson MP, his new Deputy, warned the Conservative party, saying: “Watch this space. Watch your backs. We will be watching you. And we will win in 2020.”
Seems to be a threat that the Conservatives are taking seriously. Large factions of the media, and some of the more vocal Conservative supporters have certainly not wasted any time in attacking Corbyn.
And then there's this gem from the Prime Minister:
Corbyn, an anti-war, pro Palestinian, anti-austerity parliamentary veteran will be facing David Cameron in Prime Ministers Questions for the first time this Wednesday.
Tom Watson MP, his new Deputy, warned the Conservative party, saying: “Watch this space. Watch your backs. We will be watching you. And we will win in 2020.”
Seems to be a threat that the Conservatives are taking seriously. Large factions of the media, and some of the more vocal Conservative supporters have certainly not wasted any time in attacking Corbyn.
And then there's this gem from the Prime Minister:
There was no shortage of Blarities and Tories tripping over themselves to condemn Corbyn, prominent Guardian columnist Louise Mensch being one. Mensch took to her twitter account to accuse the Labour Party of being ‘hijacked’. In reality the new Leader actually overwhelmed the polls with 59.5% of the vote, all by full Labour Party Members, not just £3 supporters.
Former PM Tony Blair, who served as Prime Minister for the Labour Party from 1997 to 2007 was yet another politician who, in a recent interview with BBC, Blair said that the leadership contest was being presented as a choice “between heart and head”, adding that people voting Corbyn need a heart transplant. Writing for the Observer, the former PM mentions how Corbyns’ supporters live in a “parallel reality”, with his policies being compared to Alice in Wonderland fantasy politics.
It has been suggested that the real ‘Alice in Wonderland’ politics were those which Brits experienced during Blair's ten-year leadership? Not only was his 1998 invasion of Iraq arguably (incredibly) illegal, costing taxpayer's millions of pounds, but the conflict still claims lives today, with refugees and migrants dying in the Mediterranean and fleeing from countries in the Middle-East.
The strong contrast between decisions made by the government and what significant numbers of British citizens want was most noticeable on Saturday (12/9), when thousands of ordinary people from all across Britain took to the streets of London, to call for their government to open the borders and accept more of the refugees that are currently being displaced by conflict in the Middle East.
David Cameron has been criticised for 'attempting to dehumanise' the migrants involved in the so-called 'refugee crisis' by referring to a “swarm of people” entering the UK in an interview with ITV, but this statement doesn’t really match statistical data.
According to the British Red Cross, over 50 million people globally were forced to leave their countries last year alone. In the UK, there are around 126.000 refugees, which make up only 0.19% of Britain's total population. Cameron claimed he would accept 20,000 people into the UK by 2020, but this figure, ironically, doesn’t begin to compare with the number of people developing countries such as Lebanon have taken in.
The national day of action in London followed an entire summer of politicians refusing help to refugees seeking shelter in Britain.
Alongside 100,000 people marching in solidarity with refugees, newly elected Labour leader Corbyn was the among first politician to support the cause, join the rally and speak at the demonstration just hours after leadership results were announced. On the UK-bound refugees stuck in Calais, he said: “After all, we are all human beings. If we were in their situation, we would do exactly the same.”
Corbyn received a lot of support on social media and from a limited portion of the press for these acts, as well as an unsurprising barrage of condemnation from the usual sources.
Perhaps the most interesting point to take away is this: The more disparaging commentary we hear about Corbyn in the press, the more people seem to like him.