Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn

The Right Honourable
Jeremy Corbyn
MP
Official portrait, 2019
Leader of the Opposition
In office
12 September 2015 – 4 April 2020
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime Minister
Preceded byHarriet Harman
Succeeded byKeir Starmer
Leader of the Labour Party
In office
12 September 2015 – 4 April 2020
DeputyTom Watson
Preceded byEd Miliband
Succeeded byKeir Starmer

Jeremy Corbyn was elected as Leader of the Opposition in September 2015, following the resignation of Ed Miliband after Labour's defeat at the 2015 general election. Disillusioned by a lack of a left-wing voice in the 2015 Labour Party leadership contest, Corbyn stood on an anti-austerity platform. Of the candidates who stood, Corbyn received the fewest parliamentary nominations. Many who nominated him said they had done so not to support his candidacy, but to widen the debate by including a socialist voice. However, Corbyn soon became the frontrunner and was elected with a landslide of 59%.

Corbyn appointed John McDonnell as Shadow Chancellor and promoted several female backbenchers, forming a Shadow Cabinet that for the first time had more women than men. Under Corbyn's leadership, Labour shifted to the left from the centre-ground. In November 2015, he voted against British military involvement in the Syrian civil war. He also opposed the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system and apologised for the Tony Blair ministry taking the UK into the Iraq War. In spite of his victory, Corbyn enjoyed little support from Labour MPs, although his support remained strong amongst Labour Party members. In 2016, Labour were widely criticised in the media for their apparent poor performance in local elections; despite this, they had won 34.1% of the PCC vote against the Conservatives' 30%, they lost 18 councillors to the Conservatives' loss of 48, Labour government control was retained in Wales, and Labour achieved a clean sweep of the mayoralties of London, Bristol, Liverpool, and Salford. Following the European Union membership referendum, in which Britain voted to leave the European Union, party opponents accused Corbyn of running a lukewarm campaign for the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign; one major opponent, Angela Eagle, cited his lack of devotion to the Remain cause while simultaneously observing the energetic and itinerant means by which his campaign was conducted. Several resigned from the Shadow Cabinet and Corbyn lost a motion of no confidence by 197–40. Eagle and Owen Smith launched a formal challenge, although Eagle later withdrew and endorsed Smith. Corbyn was re-elected with a marginally higher majority of 61%, the largest leadership election majority of any Labour leader in history.

Although Labour suffered poor results at the local elections in May 2017, at the snap 2017 general election the party secured 40% of the vote with the biggest increase in Labour vote share for 72 years, and forced the Conservatives to form a minority government with Corbyn remaining Labour leader. In the 2018 local elections, Labour increased its share of the vote. In the 2019 local elections, Labour's seat total dropped by 84. In the 2019 European Parliament election, Labour came third behind the Brexit Party and the Liberal Democrats. In the 2019 general election, Labour's vote share dropped to 32%, winning the lowest number of seats since 1935. The result led to Corbyn's announcement that he would stand down as Labour leader. Some reasons for the defeat included concerns about Corbyn's leadership, the party's "ambiguous" position on Brexit, and concerns that the commitments in the left-wing manifesto were "undeliverable".[1][2]

Corbyn remained Labour leader for four months while the leadership election to replace him took place. His resignation as Labour leader formally took effect in April 2020 following the election of Keir Starmer. During his tenure as leader, Corbyn came under criticism in relation to antisemitism within the Labour Party. Corbyn has condemned antisemitism[3] and apologised for its presence within the party,[4] while his leadership oversaw changes to strengthen party disciplinary procedures regarding hate speech and racism as recommended by the 2016 Chakrabarti Inquiry.[5] An internal 2020 report and the subsequent 2022 Forde Report noted that Corbyn's team inherited a dysfunctional disciplinary system which eventually improved under General Secretary Jennie Formby, and stated that antisemitism was used as a factional weapon by both opponents and supporters of Corbyn within the party. A 2020 Equality and Human Rights Commission inquiry into the matter found the party under his leadership was responsible for unlawful acts of discrimination and harassment.[6][7]

  1. ^ "In their own words: why voters abandoned Labour | YouGov". yougov.co.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  2. ^ correspondent, Kate Proctor political (13 December 2019). "Five reasons why Labour lost the election". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 June 2020. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ "Corbyn decries anti-Semitism as 'vile and wrong' following chief rabbi's rebuke". The Times of Israel. Jerusalem. 26 November 2019. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  4. ^ MEE staff. "BBC issues correction after saying Corbyn refused to apologise on antisemitism". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  5. ^ Elgot, Jessica (26 September 2017). "Labour to adopt new antisemitism rules after conference row". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Key findings of the EHRC inquiry into Labour antisemitism". The Guardian. 29 October 2020. Archived from the original on 29 April 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  7. ^ "What does the Labour anti-Semitism report say?". BBC News. 29 October 2020. Archived from the original on 20 November 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2022.