I Was Wrong About Jeremy Corbyn

Any analysis of his time as leader must focus on his achievements as well as his failures, not least of which was to decisively shift the debate in British politics to the left

When Corbyn’s name was put forward for the leadership of the Labour Party in 2015 it was possible to get 100/1 odds on him becoming leader. Many of those who supported him within the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) did so because they wanted to broaden the debate, fearful that the party would be dragged to the right. Even Owen Jones, who would become one of Corbyn’s biggest defenders in the media, didn’t expect that he would win and feared that his presence in the contest had the potential to further discredit the left.

I, like many others, was shocked by Corbyn’s victory, but it didn’t lead to a change in my analysis. I argued that it represented a self-indulgent lurch to the left that would consign the party to electoral oblivion, hurting the very people the Labour Party exists to support. Rather than seeing the Corbyn phenomena as a significant grassroots shift that tapped into something that had a chance of resonating with large parts of the electorate, I argued that his victory was largely the product of changed leadership rules, which had put the decision in the hands…