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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder how popular Jeremy Corbyn really is?

154 replies

hypnoticrabbit · 10/08/2015 14:15

I really like a lot of his policies and I think he is a breath of fresh air but I wonder if he is really as popular as the press makes out?

Would you vote for him in 2020? If you didn't vote Labour in the GE would you consider voting for them if Corbyn is elected leader?

PS. Before the usual suspects ask, no, not a journalist, just asking out of curiosity.

OP posts:
DirtyMugPolice · 10/08/2015 14:20

I think whether he gets elected or not will really depend on who he is up against - if they have a weaker tory leader he will have a better chance. Who knows who that will be!

I would vote for him, yes. He doesn't spin anything or shy away from questions like a lot of other politicians. Oh and he answered my question on the recent MN chat and said my question was a 'vitally important one' so I like him for that!

prorsum · 10/08/2015 14:26

I'm hoping he's not popular enough to win the leadership; we'll be stuck with he Tories for decades if he does. I'm quite disappointed in him, he should have stood down, once it became clear people were joining Labour just to vote for him in an attempt to damage the party.

bumasbigasthetv · 10/08/2015 14:26

Yes I'd vote for him. I like that he is "old school" Labour

LegoComplex · 10/08/2015 14:28

i'd vote for him, largely due to his policies on palestine. but he talks sense about a lot of other things important to me.

BeyondTheWall · 10/08/2015 14:29

See i dont understand that pro. I know of plenty of actual labour members who want to vote for him as a "lefty" rather than the bunch of other of central-right identikit candidates. Why should he stand down?

(Not a labour vote btw, and no, i still wont vote labour if he is leader)

Runningupthathill82 · 10/08/2015 14:31

I'll vote for him in the leadership election, and i'll vote for him in 2020 if he's Labour leader then (but I don't think he will be!)

NoArmaniNoPunani · 10/08/2015 14:33

I'm a Labour Party member and I'm voting for him. I'm not convinced he'll get in and if he doesn't I might give up on labour.

MaidOfStars · 10/08/2015 14:33

I can't find a policy of his that I object to or disagree with. I think an awful lot of the "unelectable" judgements are just, what? right wing fearmongering? I definitely know a few people who would be tempted back/to Labour under him.

pro I think the others candidates have declared that they are comfortable with the process? So they obviously don't think it's a threat or too big an issue (either physically, or in principle).

ilovesooty · 10/08/2015 14:35

I shall be voting for him and will not be identifying a second preference. I'm disgusted by the other candidates.
I went to see him speak last Friday and he came across as a decent man with genuine compassion and humanity.
I shall vote for him in 2020 if he is leader then.
I don't want a Labour party which is indistinguishable from the Conservatives. To paint Corbyn as a rabid left winger is unfair - it's the Labour party which has lost its roots by moving to the right.

DirtyMugPolice · 10/08/2015 14:36

I thought the polls were suggesting he was the front runner? I hope he does get voted leader. Apparently we will get ballot papers this week.

MrsGentlyBenevolent · 10/08/2015 14:36

No, I wouldn't vote for him. He's to the left wing, what Farage is to the right. Just a media distraction, policies that don't have real sustainability and if he's leader during the 2020 elections the Tories will win, without a doubt. I don't disagree with most of his idealisms, just don't believe that they can actually be put into effect if he did become PM. I'm worried Labour are going the same way as the Tories '97-2010, just one 'joke' leader after another until a 'proper, all round' candidate can be found.

DirtyMugPolice · 10/08/2015 14:37

Agree ilovesooty

HowDdo2You · 10/08/2015 14:37

Yes things need a shake up.

Raia · 10/08/2015 14:37

It's impossible to say, isn't it? I think he will be very popular among young people who are understandably completely pissed off with the variations on a theme of neoliberalism that have been on offer and may not have bothered voting yet because of this. I think he could certainly woo back some traditional labour voters in the north (dunno about Scotland though). I don't know. I really think it's a piss poor argument to say the labour party should stick with the likes of Yvette Cooper or Andy Burnham out of fear rather than because people actually agree with what they're saying (which changes with the wind anyway according to whatever seems like a good opinion to be having at any particular moment).

OllyBJolly · 10/08/2015 14:39

I disagree, prorsum. I think he might be the saving of the party. Long standing supporters have deserted the Labour party in droves because of the complacency, the lack of value, the empty rhetoric, the sense of entitlement demonstrated by the ex incumbents.

I haven't rejoined as yet, but may well do. Jeremy Corbyn stands for a lot of the reasons I joined the party more than 30 years ago. I would love to vote Labour again - I feel that's where I belong - but not the Labour party as it is right now. It's an empty sham led by privileged career politicians who are so far removed from the ideals of Keir Hardie who jump on the benefit bashing, anti immigrant, Daily Mail bandwagons in the hope of keeping their jobs and second houses.

The other three candidates are just more of the same - if one of them are elected then the former peoples' party is writing its own obituary.

howabout · 10/08/2015 14:39

I don't agree he will damage the Labour Party as Leader. I don't think they will be electable until they redefine themselves as a left of centre party with a set of coherent policies instead of "not quite as bad as the other lot". JC has a coherent point of view and the evidence from discussions around renationalisation this weekend seems to show he is willing to adapt them to fit the economy as it is rather than as it was.
I would not vote for Labour with any of the other candidates in charge as I have no clue what they stand for and think they would just be pushed around by business on the one hand and public sector workers on the other. I might vote for Labour under JC leadership if he can carry enough of the Parliamentary Party with him.

prorsum · 10/08/2015 14:39

The process may be fine, it's some of the people taking part in the process I'm suspicious of. I don't understand how we can elect a person who does not stand a chance in a general election, we just been hammered because we chose the wrong person and now we're about to do it again.

Raia · 10/08/2015 14:41

But do you think labour could have won the last election with the other Miliband in charge? I don't. They didn't lose because of Ed Miliband imho, although he was a poor choice of leader.

StampyMum · 10/08/2015 14:42

I have been a Labour Party member since 1985, and have never voted for the "looney left" candidate in all that time. But I'm voting for Jeremy Corbyn and so are most members I know. We're tired of looking like Tories and in Scotland, actually standing on the streets with them on the ref campaign. If he doesn't win, I can't see myself staying active in the party. He won't be the next PM, but I think he could create a party that inspires the next generation of Labour leaders. We are sunk without him.

prorsum · 10/08/2015 14:48

I really don't know but I find it hard to believe we would have performed as badly. It quickly became clear Ed was the wrong man and we were stuck with him. Jeremy will go the same way.

IvanOsokin · 10/08/2015 14:50

I think Jeremy Corbyn is popular among many people for his actual policies. He's not 'rabidly left-wing' - as others have said, he's what the Labour Party used to be about before New Labour turned it into Tory Lite. He's got my vote.

prorsum · 10/08/2015 14:51

No, he won't be the next PM and that's the whole point. Ten more years at least of this lot!

ghostyslovesheep · 10/08/2015 15:05

yep - Labour member since 1985 - also voting for him - he offers a real alternative

MaidOfStars · 10/08/2015 15:05

OK, let's say he won't make PM (I have my doubts that any of them will win the next election, to be honest). Isn't it important to have strong opposition, to have genuine opposition, rather than, as a beyond says, a bunch of Tory-lite offerings.

Doesn't the system need a shake up? What's the point in opposition when you don't actually oppose what the main party does?

SaskiaRembrandtWasFramed · 10/08/2015 15:06

I'll vote for him. I'd be unlikely to vote Labour if any of the other candidates were leader though, their only appeal would be that they weren't quite as bad as the Tories. And I think the Labour party should be aiming a little higher than that.

I remember JC when he was newly elected, and it's refreshing to see that he hasn't lost his principles over the years. That is admirable, whether you agree with his opinions or not.