UK LABOUR PARTY EARTHQUAKE! Jeremy Corbyn Elected Labour Leader With Massive Support

Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn arrives to hear the result of the contest

Veteran left-winger Jeremy Corbyn has won the leadership of the Labour Party by a landslide, taking almost 60% of more than 400,000 votes cast. In a result which marks a fundamental change of direction for the party, the Islington North MP defeated rivals Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall in the first round of counting, taking 251,417 (59.5%) of the 422,664 votes cast.

His victory was cheered loudly by supporters at the QEII conference centre in Westminster, who had greeted him to the event by singing the Red Flag.

After 32 years on Labour's backbenches, the 66-year-old won only a handful of votes from his fellow MPs but was swept to victory in the race to replace Ed Miliband by a surge of enthusiasm from members in the country as well as new "registered supporters" who paid £3 to secure a vote.

The Press Association report continues:

He now faces the massive challenge of forming a shadow cabinet which will deliver his anti-austerity, anti-war policies without splitting the party. Already senior figures including shadow chancellor Chris Leslie, shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt and Ms Kendall have said they will not serve under him.

Mr Corbyn must also prepare to face David Cameron in the House of Commons for his first Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

Corbyn supporters chanted "Jez we did" as he took to the stage, putting on his glasses to deliver his acceptance speech.

Mr Corbyn said the 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."

Mr Corbyn paid tribute to interim leader Harriet Harman, his predecessor Mr Miliband and his three leadership rivals, making a point of praising Ms Cooper for her intervention in the migrant crisis when she was the first major politician to demand that Britain takes in 10,000 Syrian refugees.

He announced he will attend a "Refugees Welcome Here" rally in London once the leadership conference is over.

He said: "My first act as leader of the party will be to go to the demonstration this afternoon to show support for the way refugees should be treated and must be treated in this country."

Thanking a long list of unions and socialist societies which endorsed him as leader, Mr Corbyn said the Labour Party is "organically linked together" with the unions, adding: "That's where we get our strength from."

He made clear that his first day in Parliament as leader will see him oppose the Government's efforts "to shackle unions in the Trade Union Bill which they are bringing forward on Monday".

Socialist Corbyn Elected UK Opposition Labour Leader

Meanwhile Reuters reports avowed socialist and Karl Marx admirer Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of Britain's opposition Labour party on Saturday, a result that may make a British EU exit more likely and which senior figures have said would leave their party unelectable.

"Can I start by thanking everyone who took part in this democratic election," Corbyn said in a victory speech.

He won 59.5 percent of the ballots cast, or 251,417 votes, in the leadership, winning in the first round. When the results were announced he was cheered and hugged, even by some of his rivals.

The grey-hair, bearded Corbyn, 66, who only received backing to enter the contest to ensure wide debate and never expected to win, defeated two former Labour ministers, Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham, and Liz Kendall, regarded as the representative of policies advocated by former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Corbyn, a left winger and parliamentary veteran with a long history of voting against his own party, triumphed on a message of promising to increase government investment though money-printing and renationalizing vast swathes of the economy.