James Forsyth James Forsyth

Corbyn puts the EU referendum on a knife edge

Political futures hang on the question – not least that of Boris Johnson

issue 19 September 2015
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[/audioplayer]No one watching Jeremy Corbyn walk around the Palace of Westminster would imagine that he had just won the Labour leadership by a landslide. He seems to spend his time practising the blank stare he gives to television cameras, his eyes fixed firmly on the middle distance. He doesn’t seem too keen on his colleagues either. There is none of the back-slapping bonhomie that normally surrounds a new leader. When he first addressed Labour MPs, there was no cheer when he entered the room which is, for a new leader, unprecedented. Corbyn is the accidental leader. He didn’t enter this race expecting to win. At the meeting at which he decided to stand, there was no talk about the effect that the job would have on his family life. When you’re a 200/1 outsider, such discussions seem pointless.

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