James Forsyth James Forsyth

Jeremy Corbyn’s extraordinary success is a coup for the Tories

If he becomes Labour leader, the party will move further leftwards

issue 18 July 2015

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[/audioplayer]It wasn’t meant to work out this way. A month ago, Westminster watched to see if Jeremy Corbyn could get the support of the 35 MPs he needed to enter the Labour leadership race. At the time, it seemed a sort of joke. After all, the people who were lending him their backing weren’t doing so for any great love of Corbyn. As a rule, they either wanted a ‘broad debate’ or thought that the ritual slaughter of the left-wing candidate would make it easier for the new leader to move the party to the centre.

A month on, things look very different. Corbyn now has the endorsement of Unite, the most powerful union in the country, and several others. He has the second highest number of constituency Labour party nominations, his campaign is churning out impressive-looking literature, and sober-minded Labour insiders keep revising upwards how well they think Corbyn will do.

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