To love Jeremy Corbyn and hope he wins

[derxa]

I'm not a Labour/Tory supporter but this man actually has principles.

Jeez, this is depressing. If he's leader the party is screwed. Which bit of the last election did you miss?? Vote JC for leader and you might as well be voting Boris for PM. Opposition is not the end game here. And the rest of the UK is not Scotland.

Not that there's a great choice of ace Labour candidates I'll grant you...

I work in his constituency and have been really impressed with his work in the local area. I think he'd be a good leader.

Yes, very authentic.

He'd certainly shake things up a bit.

Harriet, mandate-less, announcing Labour support for the welfare cuts has rather demonstrated just how pointless an opposition could be.

Corbyn would be a massive lurch backwards for Labour, to a buried past of unelectable and unpopular socialism. But don't let that stop you all from voting another unelectable man in

Bosrdingblues and Pink- what is it about making passive aggressive comments instead of an argument do you both not understand?

If you have a clear point, make it- there is no need for that sort of rudeness. It makes your arguments easier to dismiss.

I'd imagine the Lib Dems are rooting for Corbyn.... Gives them best opportunity to bounce back, especially given their new leader isn't too associated with Clegg and the Coalition.

YANBU. His recent record is extremely impressive.

Yvette Cooper is good but can you imagine the despicable newspaper front pages if she were leader? Andy Burnham is an excellent candidate, especially with his actions re Hillsborough, his pledge to donate his pay rise to charity and his plan to get parliament out of London, so will probably get my vote. I've got a ticket to a leadership hustings next week (I'm so excited!) so am looking forward to seeing them all in action.

Labour's vote share also went up at the last election, which doesn't tally with the popular view that the party is finished. It was the Lib Dems who crashed. Glad Farron won their leadership race.

Corbyn would be a massive lurch backwards for Labour, to a buried past of unelectable and unpopular socialism. But don't let that stop you all from voting another unelectable man in
I disagree. I do think that there are many who mourn the demise of John Smith. Corbyn is an old socialist of similar standing. In amongst all the naval gazing regarding their loss of the election, I (and many others) think that Labour have lost their way. They are convinced that they didn't win the election because the tories were tough on immigration and benefits. There are many who are equally convinced that this is not the case and that Labour have turned their backs on the people that need socialism. The people that truly suffered under the coalition and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future are looking for an alternative. The Labour party are so busy looking at what everybody else did, how they perfomred in comparison that they are unable to see the most basic truths, they are no longer socialists. They do not care for the poor, the sick, the disabled, not even the workers. They no longer appear to believe that one is in politics to do the right thing, but as a career choice. The reasons they didn't get elected are not because they weren't tough enough but because they weren't caring enough. Because they dind't stand up for th erights of workers (apart from a brief nod to zero hours contracts). They didn't say 'hang on a minute, not everyone on jsa is a scrounger, they didn't say workers rights protect us all. They didn't say the Tory rhetoric is damaging lives. At no point did they counter the damaging lies told by the tories, the isnidious little narrative of shirker versus worker. The Greens split their vote and instead of providing a different, less dangerous narrative, a narrative that said we care for people when they hit hard times, we protect those who need it most, no, they chose the Tory 'lite' line. Many voters who trusted in socialism found in no longer existed in the Labour Party.
This is why Corbyn may well lead the Labour Pary to power. So those silly Tories who are voting for him in the misguided sense that they are destroying the party, may well be doing some of us a favour.

Rumour has it that many Tories are joining the Labour party so they can vote for Corbyn, thus ensuring a Tory govt for year to come.

I'd vote for him, not that I'm a member. I mind more than anything that the others are all running around trying to work out what voters want and then saying that's what they stand for. It isn't on and it's insulting to voters intelligence. Either they know what they stand for and believe in or they don't.

And I'm sure half of those rumours are started by people with an agenda.

I like him too, but he's the 2015 version of Michael Foot.

Labour supporters need to make a choice.... Vote with their heart and stand on principle (i.e, Corbyn) and be out of power for a generation. Or vote with their head and compromise (Burnham?) and stand a chance of at least influencing public policy in their lifetimes. It's wishful thinking to imagine that a socialist Labour Party will be elected to power, winning 100 more seats than they won in May.

Agree he's the modern version of Michael Foot. If he gets elected leader it will be the 1980s all over again and Labour will be out of power for another decade.
He is a very principled and honest guy, but elections in this country are won in the centre ground. If a party veers too much to either extreme (early 80s Labour, early 2000s Conservatives) they are unelectable.

He will be 71 in 2020, apart from anything else. If you seriously think Labour could win a general election with him as leader you are completely deluded. This is worth reading curtislopez.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/why-im-supporting-liz-kendall.html?m=1
I guess the question is whether you want a Labour Party in opposition or in government.

I do think Corbyn would be good for opposition in the short term and soften Tory policies but as a leader to win the next election then that is a no for me unfortunately they are two separate things.

Agree he's the modern version of Michael Foot. If he gets elected leader it will be the 1980s all over again and Labour will be out of power for another decade.
He is a very principled and honest guy, but elections in this country are won in the centre ground. If a party veers too much to either extreme (early 80s Labour, early 2000s Conservatives) they are unelectable.

Spot on. Very difficult times for Labour as long as Tories occupy the centre ground.

Michael Foot was an extremely intelligent and very principled man. He was destroyed by Murdoch. I do rather think it's a shame that there are some who cannot see beyond an 'image'. Equally, I do feel that sands are shifting and people (certainly at the moment) are looking for the nearest they can find to an 'honest politician (an oxymoron, I know). Corbyn is currently providing that model. Only time will tell.

Exactly Dawn - Michael Foot was a good, decent, principled man

Dawndonnaagain I wish there was a recommend button for your posts

Ed Miliband is also an extremely intelligent and principled man. That worked out well, didn't it?

" Liz Kendall, who was last seen heading to the river with a sack of kittens, muttering something about 'having to do all the hard work in making us appear electable'"

I came the nearest I've ever come to snorting over my keyboard when I read this on Facebook yesterday. I can't imagine how anyone from the Labour party can vote for her.