Jeremy corbyn

Turnout in the Labour leadership contest is going to be one of the key factors in deciding who wins. The result of the London Mayoral contest suggests that the tens of thousands who've joined the party as members or registered supporters have, as expected, flocked in an anti-establishment direction — which has clearly benefited Sadiq Khan and points towards a Corbyn victory. Rumours are circulating that the turnout in the leadership is varying significantly between the various parts of the electorate.

So, Sadiq Khan will be Labour’s London Mayoral candidate, while Jeremy Corbyn looks likely to become Labour’s leader tomorrow. The two have worked together during their campaigns, with their staff consulting closely on tactics. But they’ve also worked together in the past. In Emma Crewe’s book, The House of Commons: An Anthropology of MPs at Work, Corbyn tells an anecdote about what life was like as a serial rebel: Towards the end of the last Labour administration a phone call between then whip Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn tended to go something like this: Whip: ‘Hello there Jeremy, just wanted to check how you are planning to vote on Tuesday.’ Jeremy: ‘I’m going to vote against.’ Whip: ‘OK’.

Jeremy Corbyn hasn’t even been elected Labour leader but the campaign to undermine him begins today. David Cameron will give a speech on the economy, in which he will warn that Corbyn will threaten Britain's security — a strategy I wrote about earlier this week. According to today’s Times, the Prime Minister will make his first significant attack on a Corbyn-led Labour by focusing on the threat to Britain’s financial security: ‘I have watched with some bewilderment the Labour leadership election of the past few months. 'Whoever wins . . . this is now a party that has completely vacated the intellectual playing field and no longer represents working people.

Liz Kendall has all but admitted she is not going to be the next Labour leader. At a speech in Westminster this morning, the shadow care minister spoke about the future of the party and referenced ‘whatever happens on Saturday' — but she was no longer talking about her plans as leader. Kendall urged Labour to stick together after the new leader is elected, specifically if Jeremy Corbyn wins: ‘First, everyone must - and I believe will - accept the result and mandate of the new Leader. They will have won the right to pursue their agenda and must be given the space and scope to do so. If Jeremy Corbyn wins, it would be a huge mistake not to accept that result as legitimate.

Jeremy Corbyn becoming Labour leader will make it much more difficult for David Cameron to bring a vote to the House of Commons authorising British involvement in air strikes against the so-called Islamic State in Syria. That’s the received wisdom, anyway, but is it true? Tom Newton Dunn reported in the Sun this week that ‘dozens’ of Labour MPs were prepared to defy their party whip if it forbade support for action in Syria, which would mean the government would be able to cobble together a majority of Conservative MPs and Labourites, even if a group of Tories defied their whip. Yesterday the Prime Minister told the Commons that the work to remove both Assad and Isil would ‘on occasion, require hard military action’.