International
0

UK Press Divided on Corbyn

UK Press Divided on Corbyn
UK Press Divided on Corbyn

Britain’s pro-Conservative newspapers on Sunday crowed that socialist Jeremy Corbyn’s crushing leadership victory would condemn the Labour Party to the opposition for a long time, while leftist media hailed the win.

“Bye Bye Labour!” screamed a front-page headline in the Sunday Express and the Mail on Sunday published a picture of the new anti-austerity firebrand next to the words “Red and Buried”.

“Death of New Labour,” said the Sunday Telegraph, referring to controversial former prime minister Tony Blair’s famous brand from the 1990s.

“Labour isn’t dead, Blairism is. Jeremy Corbyn finally killed it,” the paper said in an editorial that said that “boring Blairites” had been vanquished.

The Independent on Sunday referred to Corbyn’s appeal in his victory speech to new young Labour supporters and returning former members, with a headline saying: “Welcome to the party, welcome home”.

Guardian columnist Rafael Behr called Corbyn’s election an earthquake “off the political Richter scale”, pointing to the role of young people not previously involved in politics.

“Blairism is buried beneath the rubble and a different structural and cultural divide has been revealed,” he wrote for the pro-Labour daily.

Jeremy Corbyn has started work on putting together his shadow Cabinet after his dramatic landslide victory in the Labour leadership contest.

The veteran left winger–who has never held a formal position in the party before now–must also prepare for his first Commons clash with David Cameron.

The new Labour leader has promised to “unite” the party after getting 60% of the votes in the leadership contest.

Corbyn is expected to name the first members of his new shadow Cabinet later.

Financialtribune.com