Could somebody explain why Corbyn shouldn't be voted for as Labour party leader?

"Ask them to pay for it in higher taxes and they will vote for someone else".
It standard to limit the views to taxes and taxation.

Fairer wages, caps on profiteering, legislation to limit the cost of living and regulation of finance and private sector industry make more of an impact and this is Corbyn discourse.

I find it baffling that people say that he is not a career politician , he has never had a proper job , his only job before MP was as a paid union official ,His only interest is politics , he is the definition of a career politician

I agree. People seem to forget he has been in the PLP for many, many, many years.

His record for voting with the party whip is bad. How can he command loyalty from the PLP when he didn't give it himself?

Pneumometer - right now labour aren't actually opposing anything the govt are doing. None of the other candidates will.
I think Corbyn would realign what "centre" means and then probably implode and a new leader could be in place before the 2020 election.

You won't find many mainstream publications discrediting Cornyn Smears because they are all opposed to him. They will more likely back up the smear campaign.

He will be unable to command the respect of the PLP , most will not serve under him because their beliefs are very different .He will be 71 by the next election and it's a big job for someone in their 70s and I am not convinced he had the experience to run a big party machine like the Labour Party.

I find it baffling that people say that he is not a career politician , he has never had a proper job , his only job before MP was as a paid union official ,His only interest is politics , he is the definition of a career politician .

He does not live like most of the electorate , his slightly sanctimonious puritanical lifestyle is pretty atypical . When he is talking I get the impression that he is looking down his nose at us car driving, alcohol drinking TV watching masses,

Most of all his policies are like a fairytale wish list , of course if you hold up the moon on a stick people will say they are in favour , ask them to pay for it in higher taxes and they will vote for someone else.

Supporter of Hamas taken out of context here

www.ibtimes.co.uk/jeremy-corbyn-frontrunner-labour-leaders-quotes-hamas-renationalisation-taxing-rich-1512041

I can't see him leading the country in 2020 but I think he's what is needed in an opposition leader in 2015.

So you've written off the 2020 general election and are now gambling on some mysterious new settlement helping Labour to power in 2025? What sort of public services do you think they'll have left to manage after ten years of Tory education, health and welfare policy?

Still, at least the Labour Party will fit in a telephone box be fit for action!

so despite my fear that this election may split the party

TBH I think this will happen. I can't see that it won't.

There are calls from TUSC etc to become part of the Labour party if JC wins and make it an even more 'left' wing party than Corbyn is.

MPs talking about possible legal action.

Members of the Greens, UKIP, TUSC, and the Tories been excluded from the vote after signing up and that is must the ones that have so far been caught

We need Corbyn in order to redefine the centre. It does not lie between "a bit right" and "a bit more right".
I can't see him leading the country in 2020 but I think he's what is needed in an opposition leader in 2015.

So it then comes down to whether any of the candidates can be the catalyst for change that many people in the country are looking for.

No change, of any description, is catalysed in opposition.

How much do you think Thatcher was kept in check by Labour circa 1987? No, me neither. When you've got the votes, the opposition can do what the fuck they like, you don't care.

But neither is the current centre-positioned Labour party.

It isn't centre-positioned. It's pursuing a 35% strategy based on the idea that if you add up everyone who isn't a comfortably off Mondeo Man you win an election. Hence the endless banging on about stuff that is electorally unimportant, like the bedroom tax (everyone affected votes Labour already, if they vote at all, because the Tories cunningly excluded people past retirement age from it). This is a losing strategy now, and even more of a losing strategy in 2020.

Labour need to get in touch with what a lot of people are crying out for

You're making the AV mistake: "lots of people like me, who read similar newspapers to me and converge on similar social-media hubs to me agree with me, and they're all nice and decent, and therefore everyone else does too and we are sure to win this".

How in tune are you with the current political thinking of the over-60s? Do you think they're screaming out for the nationalisation of the means of production and unilateral nuclear disarmament? Currently just 1 in 4 of them votes Labour; in 2020 28% of the population will be over 55, while only 16% of the population will be aged 18-30.

The Tories understand this. They're fantastic at the votes of the retired and the soon to be retired. Those two demographics ties up everyone over 50; co-incidentally, the people most likely to own houses, have at least some pension provision and be past caring about schools.

You can run around Hoxton getting as many votes from Nathan Barley as you like: the grey electorate kills you every time. It's a boomer election. Labour have to understand this.

I am still undecided on who I will vote for. But if you had said, 2 months ago that I would be seriously considering Corbyn, I would have laughed.

Yes, he is very much to the left. Yes, voting for Corbyn may well hand the 2020 election to the Tories. But I do wonder if any of the 4 candidates could win the next General Election. Indeed, if Burnham, Cooper or Kendall win it, then I think its a given Labour will lose the next election. They are IMO, a weak field of candidates. None of them inspire.

So it then comes down to whether any of the candidates can be the catalyst for change that many people in the country are looking for.

Once you start asking that question, then there is only one candidate. So despite my fear that this election may split the party, JC is likely to get my vote.

'Blair and Cameron did. Don't take my word for it, look what happened at the ballot box!'

You're right Binit, and its unspeakably bloody depressing. It's not the flipping X Factor!

Both conservative and labour gain votes by moving closer to the centre.

For labour to win, they need to pick up some conservative voters. The way to do that is to move towards the centre, not further left.

Tony Blair won some Tory voters over by going less left wing.
David Cameron won some labour voters over by going less right wing.

I hate politics, but it seems pretty basic to me.

Labour electing heavy left winger = lose election
Tories electing heavy right winger = lose election

Also there is something to be said about huge chunks of the electorate voting for someone who "looks the part" and commands respect. Corbyn doesn't. Ed Milliband didn't. William Hague didn't. Blair and Cameron did. Don't take my word for it, look what happened at the ballot box!

Another good argument, but perhaps the influence of him just as a leader for a year or two would be good reason enough.

Divided parties don't win elections. The time for that sort of navel-gazing (or perhaps naval-gazing, as it'll be sinking while it happens) was 2010-2015. If Labour don't have a clear set of policies and a clear narrative soon, but leave it until 2017/8, they will be annihilated. We allowed the Tories to win on the "Labour caused the recession" because after the last GE there was six months of introspection which left the Tories to their own devices. Now it's much, much worse and after a shambolic election campaign, we are leaving the Tories twelve months to set the political weather. Which they are very, very happy to do.

Is Corbyn going to campaign for leaving the EU, by the way? He did in 1983.

Does he actually call Hamas friends?

apparently, so it is reported.

If not, then he needs to say so loudly and clearly NOW, and he doesn't seem to be doing so.

'However, the interest and support that he's generated would appear to argue against that.'

Absolutely. Labour need to get in touch with what a lot of people are crying out for, and stop recycling the same old crap

He is indirectly 'attracting' people like Nellist and Galloway et al who are no longer members of the Labour party for a reason.

'I could give you ten million reasons why he should be'

Ditto didyouwritethe. I'm sick and tired of the endless repetition of the line that Labour must stick to the centre (right) ground in order to win elections. I'm sick and tired of focus-grouped, steam-cleaned politico robots who don't seem to have any personality, repeating bland lines that have been fed to them by spin doctors. Corbyn seems like a proper person and heaven knows that's what we need right now.

I do have concerns about whether he's leadership material and how the party would be expected to remain coherent and cohesive under his leadership. All I've heard all week is Labour big wigs and MPs on the radio giving chapter and verse about why he would be disaster blahblahblah. But I can't imagine a decent Labour party led by any of the other three so hey - why the hell not give Corbyn a chance?

However, these are different times and a lot of young people have no memory of those days

Current 18 year olds: 855k.

Current 14 year olds (ie, voting in 2020 for the first time): 670k

Current 50 year olds (voted for the first time in 1983): 941k.

The over 50s vote at a rate of about 75%.

The under 25s vote at a rate of less than 45%.

So in 2020, there will be about 3.5m 55-60 year olds actually showing up at the ballot box, and there will be about 1.5m 18-23 year olds actually showing up at the ballot box.

Labour under Milliband absolutely haemorrhaged votes amongst over-60s (down to less than 25%). They're a massively dominant part of the electorate, in raw numbers and in turnout. They remember the 1980s. A load of non-voting twenty-somethings won't overturn that.

He has already explained this and explained he is not a supporter of the entire of Hamas

Does he actually call Hamas friends?