Meet Mr. Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, to give him his full title. For decades, his politics have been that of the outsider - of placards and petitions; never happier than at the head of a demonstration. He is, therefore, an unlikely entrant to the political establishment - or so you'd think.
Corbyn was a 200-1 outsider when the three month contest began, that shows that he has really won a heck of a lot of people during his campaigning time. He's a champion of a range of human rights causes, leading the charge as victims of the Pinochet regime attempted to put the General on trial fifteen years ago. He has been a constant critic of western military intervention in the Gulf or elsewhere; and while the fortunes of the "stop the war" constituencies have fluctuated, his enthusiasm for the cause has never wavered.
His anti-austerity message and promise to scrap Britain's nuclear weapons and renationalise the railways and major utilities were all things that people wanted to hear and things that they actually understood rather than the usual drivel pouring from politician's mouths.
Is Corbyn finally the person we can trust to be a leader of the people? I think so, and I'm not alone in thinking this. His triumph was by a landslide, trouncing his opposition:
Jeremy Corbyn: 251,417 - 59.5%
Andy Burnham: 80,462 - 19%
Yvette Cooper: 71,928 - 17%
Liz Kendall: 18,857 - 4.5%He told BBC News he had been a "bit surprised" by the scale of his victory but his campaign had showed "politics can change and we have changed it". When delivering his acceptance speech, he promised to fight for a more tolerant and inclusive Britain - and to tackle "grotesque levels of inequality in our society".
He said the leadership campaign "showed our party and our movement, passionate, democratic, diverse, united and absolutely determined in our quest for a decent and better society that is possible for all".
"They are fed up with the inequality, the injustice, the unnecessary poverty. All those issues have brought people in, in a spirit of hope and optimism."
He said his campaign had given the lie to claims that young Britons were apathetic about politics, showing instead that they were "a very political generation that were turned off by the way in which politics was being conducted - we have to, and must, change that". Mr Corbyn added: "The fightback now of our party gathers speed and gathers pace."
His first act as leader was to attend a "Refugees Welcome Here" rally, joining tens of thousands of people marching through central London in support of the rights of refugees. Addressing cheering crowds in Parliament Square, he delivered an impassioned plea to the government to recognise its legal obligations to refugees from Syria and elsewhere and to find "peaceful solutions to the world's problems".
"Open your your hearts. open your minds, open your attitude to suffering people, who are desperate and who are in need of somewhere safe to live," he added.
For those who have a problem with Mr. Corbyn I would suggest that you read through his plans and what he wants to do to see how they can benefit you. Think of the benefits they would have to you as a person, not just in terms of your money. Think about how society can be made better and how we can all feel like we are people again. And, as he put it, open your your hearts. open your minds, open your attitude.
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