Britain’s opposition party elected long-time socialist Jeremy Corbyn to lead the Labour party with a huge mandate Saturday.
Corbyn’s mandate exceeds that of former Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1994 with 59.5 percent of first-preference votes, according to the Guardian.
Britons are “fed up with the injustice and the inequality” of their country, the Guardian reported Corbyn said moments after his victory.
“Welcome to our party, welcome to our movement. And I say to those returning to the party, who were in it before and felt disillusioned and went away: welcome back, welcome home,” he said.
“We are going to reach out to everyone in this country, so no one is left on the side, so everyone has a decent place in society,” said Corbyn. He promised to end Conservatives’ austerity measures, calling them “not right … not necessary and it’s got to change,” he said.
Corbyn also used his victory speech to attack the media, claiming their behavior has sometimes been “intrusive, abusive and simply wrong.”
Observers are calling the far-left leader’s victory “stunning.” Corbyn plans to reverse Blair’s centrist policies, and plans to apologize for the Iraq war. He has committed to nationalizing industries and opposing public welfare cuts. He has also invited Hamas and Hezbollah “friends” to address parliament.
In his victory speech, Corbyn emphasized that he will include centrist members of parliament who fear that they will have no place in the party now.
Corbyn’s initial odds of winning were “around 100-1, but his campaign was boosted when he won the support of two of the biggest unions, Unite and Unison, and became the only candidate to vote against the Conservatives’ welfare bill while the others abstained,” reports the Guardian.
