Jeremy Corbyn, the new leader of the United Kingdom’s main opposition Labour Party, is regarded as a rarity in politics: an honest man who generally gives straight answers to questions, even if his views might be as unfashionable and messy as his clothes.
Mr Corbyn is also a committed republican and his refusal to sing the British national anthem, “God Save the Queen”, at a service, on Tuesday, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, was entirely in character. The incident has, however, caused much offence in the UK and five members of Mr Corbyn’s own shadow cabinet have publicly criticised him.
The debate over monarchy versus republic and whether the anthem is itself anachronistic is best left to the British people. More germane is whether the elevation of Mr Corbyn, who is known for being true to his principles, signals a move away from cynicism in politics and whether he is good for Labour in its quest for electoral success in 2020, and for the UK and the world, as a potential prime minister ‒ if he lasts that long, of course.
Before his election to replace Ed Miliband as Labour leader, last Friday, Mr Corbyn, 66, was better known as an extreme left-winger and a parliamentary backbencher who had voted against his own party in Parliament over 500 times during his 32 years representing the London constituency of Islington North.
No stranger to controversy, he has espoused high-minded causes such as the anti-apartheid movement, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the rights of immigrants and the disabled. But he is also something of an iconoclast and is seen as a member of the ‘loony left’ as he has, more contentiously, supported the Irish Republican Army and Hamas, with its avowed intent to destroy Israel (though he insists that he does not share their views); and he has called for “joint administration” of the Falkland Islands by Britain and Argentina, and for the UK’s withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the bedrock of European security following the Second World War and throughout the Cold War.
Mr Corbyn’s nomination as a candidate in the leadership contest, therefore, was something of a joke, as he was endorsed by many MPs who did not agree with his policies, supposedly to “broaden the debate.” The joke soon backfired, however, as the 200-to-1 outsider began to win support, especially from the trade unions, with his anti-austerity message, reflecting a trend seen in countries like Greece and Spain.
Mr Corbyn’s campaign was also helped by a change in party election rules, introduced by Mr Miliband last year, which allowed non-party members to register to vote for a fee of just £3. There were even accusations – or jokes, depending on one’s perspective – that the Conservatives were secretly padding the Labour Party’s voters’ list in order to get Mr Corbyn elected.
The practice of politics is often called the art of the possible and history has shown, time and time again, that nothing is impossible in the world of politics. History is, moreover, not always a linear progression but cyclical in nature, regardless of the lessons that should have been learnt along the way. In the case of the Labour Party, there now appears to have been a rebellion against the more centrist, New Labour vision of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, with a return to the party’s working class roots and ideals.
Even though, in his leadership campaign, Mr Corbyn promised a “new kind of politics”, he also committed to “growth not austerity” by expanding the economy to help the poor and middle class; action on climate change; public ownership of railways and in the energy sector; a big house-building programme and rent control; a national education service; the scrapping of nuclear missiles and Trident, Britain’s nuclear deterrent; and withdrawal from Nato.
But many Labour MPs do not support his views, regarding them as too far to the left to enable Labour to capture the middle ground so essential to winning a general election. Mr Blair and Mr Brown implored Labour voters not to elect Mr Corbyn. There were even suggestions before the election that, if elected, he could be the victim of an early palace coup by Labour MPs but this may be unlikely now given the magnitude of his victory.
Now, of course, Mr Corbyn and his supporters are the ones laughing, although the Conservatives are also laughing as they consider him unelectable in the next general election in 2020. They should not be so sanguine. Mr Corbyn is at one and the same time a throwback to earlier times and a vision of something new, with his unfussy, apparently unscripted and completely unorthodox approach to politics. Perhaps he may be forced to moderate his radical principles. Perhaps not. It is impossible to predict what will happen next. What started as a joke could yet end in tears, but for whom we cannot say.
