Telesur.png Socialist Jeremy Corbyn Wins Labour Leadership Race to Become UK Opposition Leader Telesur, Venezuela, 12 September 2015 With Jeremy Corbyn's election as leader of the Labour party, the U.K. could have a socialist prime minister in 2020. U.K. Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn was announced the winner of Labour leadership elections Saturday, taking over the position once held by Tony Blair. Jeremy Corbyn victorious.jpg With 59.5 percent of the votes, Corbyn lead with a 40 percent advantage over Andy Burnham, who came second with 19 percent of the votes. In a speech filled with gratitude, the new Labour Party leader vowed to welcome refugees, spoke against war and criticized the current Conservative government led by Prime Minister David Cameron. "We cannot go on like this, with grotesque levels of inequality (...) we need an economic strategy that improves peoples lives...that reaches out to care for everybody," he said. Corbyn closed his speech by reminding his party that poverty is not inevitable and promising change. Labour, the U.K.'s main opposition social democratic party, is often likened to the Democratic Party in the United States, with Corbyn being likened to Bernie Sanders, the self-proclaimed socialist running against Hillary Clinton. "Corbyn is significantly to the left of Sanders," however, points out New Left Project's Alex Doherty. Corbyn, a self-proclaimed socialist who was but a blip on the political radar until a few months ago, has defied all his detractors and won the party primary by appealing to core Labour values and grassroots supporters. Originally an outsider, with 200/1 odds to win against frontrunner Andy Burnham's 5/6, Corbyn threw his hat into the leadership ring after Ed Miliband stepped down as leader when the party lost to David Cameron's Conservative party in May. Corbyn only just scraped the number of nominations required to run and his subsequent phenomenal success has shocked his party - which, under Tony Blair, became increasingly centrist in its politics - and the nation. Britons flocked to join the party in droves, thanks to his sincerity and lack of spin, as well as his platter of leftist, progressive policies that stand in stark contrast to the increasingly right-wing policies of Cameron's administration. Corbyn has not only proved popular among Labour supporters, but, as The Guardian reported, he is be "more popular than the other candidates within the wider electorate." His success proves that policies such as re-nationalizing the railways - which are now unaffordable for many - energy, and education are still popular among the electorate in Britain, where for the past 30 years privatization has run rampant. Were he elected prime minister, Corbyn's proposals include resolving the housing crisis, safeguarding care for the mentally ill, securing equality for women and reforming taxation to make the rich pay their fair share in a country where news stories about corporations avoiding tax are commonplace. Corbyn's victory comes despite a broad smear campaign by the left and the right, including from within his own party. Most famously, Tony Blair himself, in a show of desperation at Corbyn's increasing popularity, warned voters against him: "Even if you hate me, this is not a moment to take Labour over a cliff edge," was the title of an op ed he Blair wrote for The Guardian, once it became clear Corbyn presented a real threat to the Blairite candidates he was up against, Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall. Doherty observes, "So spooked is the Labour Party by the prospect of a Corbyn victory that leading figures have floated preparations for a legal challenge and a post-election coup." Corbyn has been frequently called "unelectable," despite the fact he has held his seat in the Islington North constituency consistently since 1983. Other smears include linking him to the Palestinian group Hamas, which caused heated debate in London's Jewish Chronicle newspaper, and the Irish Republican Army, which is drawing vitriol from those in favour of continuing U.K. control of Northern Ireland. The right-wing press initially supported Corbyn, seeing it as a good joke and, more crucially, a way to undermine the Labour Party and guarantee Conservative re-election in 2020. Later, when it became clear he was rapidly gaining support, the same media gave Corbyn the moniker, "The most dangerous man in British politics." His detractors say his socialist politics are a throwback to the Labour Party of the 1970s, when much of Britain's key industries were state-run. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government during the 1980s dismantled and privatized most vestiges of British socialism. The National Health Service had been a key exception, until mass sell-offs happened under Blair's reign, leaving it free for users, but beholden to stakeholders and market forces. However, the more the veteran politician has been interviewed since he decided to run, the more the public has warmed to him for his no-nonsense replies as they are a far cry from the politician-speak and spin people had become accustomed to under Blair and now Cameron. In fact, Corbyn's response to Blair's Guardian article was, "I don't do personal, I don't do abuse." In another touching anecdote, Corbyn is the lawmaker who spends the least on expenses. He claimed just 8.7 pounds (US$13) for a printer ink cartridge from the taxpayers one year, while other lawmakers' extravagant claims on the public purse became the subject of the "expenses scandal," which toppled many politicians a few years ago. But more importantly than the political mud-slinging, Corbyn has brought people back to the party - which has seen declining support and a loss of what many feel are its core values - especially among young people, who have been actively involved in the "Jez We Can" campaign, seemingly unphased by the idea Corbyn would be 71 by the time he runs for prime minister. Since the general election, Labour membership has increased from 194,000 - 270,000, representing the fastest increase in 64 years, which many are attributing to Corbyn, whose packed rallies have drawn crowds the size of which British politics has not seen for a long time. As another example of Corbyn's meteoric rise to political stardom, a bookmaker told London local newspaper, the Islington Gazette, "We can recall no other example of a 200/1 chance becoming an odds-on favourite in a political betting market in our 50-plus year history of political betting." A big part of his success has been energizing the grassroots. Corbyn won over all the big unions and 152 of the 350 local party branches expressed early support for the London member of parliament. Rosie Warren on teleSUR's Media Review says this can be attributed to "party members attempting to reclaim their party from the Blairite coup of recent years" On Friday, other indications hint at the end of "New Labour," as Blair coined it, with the announcement of Sadiq Khan as Labour candidate to run as the next mayor for London. Khan was supported by "Old Labour" stalwart Ken Livingstone, who urged voters to back Corbyn and Khan to change the party direction. 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