Jeremy Corbyn not only survived a challenge to his Labour Party leadership this weekend in the UK, he actually improved his share of the vote since he first won the job of Leader of the Opposition last September.
Corbyn beat Owen Smith, a charismatic Member of Parliament from Wales, 61.8 to 38.2 percent. In 2015, he had bested a crowded field with 59.5 percent of the vote.
Corbyn’s reelection was not unexpected. Hundreds of thousands of new members have joined the party since the self-described democratic socialist took over.
Yet many of those members were not allowed to vote by party rules allowing only those with continuous membership for the last six months to cast ballots.
Labour elders are calling for party unity in the wake of Corbyn’s latest victory but there’s a lot to bet against that. The contest was triggered by a no-confidence motion by his own Parliamentary party after he was seen to be wishy-washy during the Brexit campaign this summer. The “Leave” vote carried on a surge of normally Labour-supporting voters.
Corbyn wouldn’t even have been allowed to stand for the leadership again if he had to get the minimal number of endorsements by fellow Members of Parliament. Party functionaries ruled that, as leader, he was automatically entered in the running.
After the no-confidence motion, previous Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron had urged him during Question Time to quit. “For God’s sake man, go!” the lame duck Cameron had thundered at his erstwhile partner in trying to win the referendum to stay in the European Union.
Corbyn responded by stubbornly staying right where he was, firing many members of his shadow cabinet, and grinding out a win. A few days before the vote he told the BBC, “Sadly for everyone, I’ll be the same Jeremy Corbyn.”
Though Corbyn remains popular with Labour Party supporters, particularly the new ones, he is not popular nationally. Polls have found that voters have an unfavorable opinion of him and that if Labour tossed him as leader, it would likely do much better on the ballot.
This weekend’s leadership contest likely strengthened the hand of Theresa May, newly installed Conservative Prime Minister who will be in charge of negotiating the UK’s exit from the European Union next year as well as trying to nail down various trade deals with other countries, including the United States.
With an official opposition tied to Corbyn, May should have quite a bit of room for error.
