Well, there we have it: Jeremy Corbyn has just been announced the next Labour Leader

[InTheBox]

With 59% of the vote (first round).

I've just been following the live BBC broadcast and just wanted them to get on with it.

No doubt people on both sides of the political spectrum will be overjoyed with the result.

Well said QueenStarlight

SheGot if they're not scared, why are they sending out pathetic, desperate emails describing Corbyn the same way they'd describe a terrorist?

They're not meant for the electorate. There is no election ( though you'd be forgiven for thinking JC was going to fight one tomorrow). They know as well as JC knows he's nit going to stand when the time comes.

They galvanise right wing rank and file who lap this shit up.

jorahmormont I disagree, the current party have been relatively quiet about JC. Those e-mails must only be platitudes, to be seen to be 'having a reaction' iyswim. They aren't terrified in the slightest. Only a few weeks ago Conservative HQ released a document on what JC's economic plan would cost the electorate. His major critics have been from others - not the current party. In fact some of the Conservatives even joined Labour in order to vote for JC. To them his election means they can finally take a back seat and coast for a while.

As for Tom Watson and his aspirations to be PM, imo, only spell the demise of Labour. The Lib Dems were annihilated within 2 GEs - Labour will soon join them.

Not platitudes. They are catnip to the far right who tend to get awkward in comfortable majorities.

Cameron needs to keep them in line with the EU referendum coming up, this is perfect.

Gmail just lets them sit there forever. Anyway it's only the 9,000 emails I've had from Mumsnet telling me off.

Doesn't anyone remember just how terrible the publically owned railway was?

'They galvanise right wing rank and file who lap this shit up.'

No the line that Corbyn and Labour are a threat to national security, economic security and family security is their new spin doctor generated line that they are rolling out on media interviews for the public. Priti Patel used it, so expect it from all of them on TV, a bit like their "longterm economic plan" line. Their teenage think tank whizzkids think they are onto a winner with this one and they will milk it for what it is worth. In their arrogance and out of touchness, they don't realise that they will make themselves look ridiculous and generate sympathy for Corbyn. Expect the Sun to use the same type of line too.

I remember XC! The West CoasT line was crumbling away according to the staff themselves! Virgin made it way better imo.

The tory party elite have never claimed to be men of the people, though, have they? they might occasionally try not to look completely out of touch, but barring GO's ill-advised attempt at Estuary English, I don't think that they have tried to appear one of us

I used to do a commute which is a very reliable 40 mins now. I would be delayed by an hour or more several times a month

'I don't think that they have tried to appear one of us'

They know they are considered toffs and they want to get rid of that image. They are trying to position themselves as the party of "working people". They know that Corbyn, unlike Oxbridge Miliband and the North London metropolitan elite, is more aligned with the people and the trades unions, so they are trying to convince people that "Labour will hurt working people", another one of their new lines.

They don't have many good arguments, so they tend to use smears and throw as much mud as they can for as long as they can, hoping that some of it will stick in the people's minds. The Sun will probably be right behind them. It may even work because it is their usual tactic and they have experience at it.

But Virgin don't own the West Cost Main line, they're just a train operator. If I'm remembering this properly, Railtrack owned it and then nearly went bust so it had to be brought back into state ownership as Network Rail.

Just because something was not perfect on the 70s doesn't mean it is inevitable it would be in the future. People are acting as though he's won a GE.

Bloody brilliant. Not left wing enough for me.... But a start. And it is excellent to see all the political pundits and ruling class so wrong footed.

Oh and by the way I am a British Jew and I support him.

The Tory party is in serious danger of over-egging this pudding - and some conservatives think this, too.

It's very difficult to predict what this means for British politics - a few months ago I doubt anyone on this thread would have bet on a JC win. The Tories have a difficult couple of years to negotiate, with benefit cuts for middle income working families due to take effect, a refugee crisis to solve, and a hugely contentious referendum to negotiate.

If I were a europhile Tory I'd be concerned, rather than pleased, at this result (and as a left wing EU supporter it worries me too, even though I agree with some of JC's ideas).

'And it is excellent to see all the political pundits and ruling class so wrong footed.'

Yes, this is the amazing thing and it is all down to the British people. They have underestimated the people. They thought the people had swallowed all their lies and they are stunned to see this revolt against the entire Establishment hierarchy of Oxbridge Labour elite gatekeepers. The Guardian was against Corbyn, Polly Toynbee was against him, every one of teh great and the good was against him, but the people were for him. The people ignored Blair, Brown, Kinnock and everyone they Establishment threw at the people. Corbyn was a 100-1 outsider, they laughed at him, but they aren't laughing now. They are trying to understand how on earth it happened and why the people didn't do as they were told.

I remember waiting long hours at Preston in the 80's and early Nineties. It improved a lot after privatisation. I also had family in a nationalised industry in the 70s and they agree it was run very, very badly.

But many of the electorate have no memory of that or the state we were in in the 70s when unions were all powerful. Now workers are powerless, the pendulum has swung too far the other way. So perhaps Corbyn has much more of a chance than I can imagine!

I'm a Labour member and I'm saddened but not surprised by the result. I voted for Yvette Cooper because I thought she was the only one who showed any kind of leadership skills - and even that was far too late in the day over the refugee crisis. I hope that she does have the comfort of knowing she did a good and honourable thing there.

I have no personal issues with Jeremy Corbyn - he seems like a nice man, although I do have some concerns about his language re Hamas and Hezbollah. But a leader he is not. The most revealing story I've read about him is one lots of people know: he separated from his second wife because he didn't want his son to go to a selective state secondary school. But what is interesting is what happened after that. The sin stayed with his mother and went to the selective school. So JC in no way resolved the issue but was able to say he wasn't responsible for it. And I worry that this is exactly how he's behaved in parliament over the years and I can't see that type of personality working as a leader.

Also, given that we're stuck with FPTP (where we're all these enthusiastic punters during the AV referendum?), it would take an unheard of shift to get him elected. Winning back Scotland - even if he could do it - wouldn't be enough. We need to win back swing Labour/Tory seats with high voter turnout. Various analyses have been done by Jon Cruddas, Dan Jarvis, even the BBC programme More or Less which show that the strategy of mobilising the left wing non voters won't work in these seats.

I have been a Labour party member on and off since 2000. I 've knocked on doors and leafleted. Back in the day I left at the drop of a hat. Despite my huge disappointment at what has happened I'm not going to leave now - but I do worry that as soon as J'S halo slips, or something ' s not perfect, these new supporters will leave in droves.

Finally (sorry this is so long) I used to think there was no point in a "right wing" Labour party. But I've changed my mind. The Labour party's job is to get into government and push a social equality agenda as far as it can. There is no point in perpetual opposition. I am so sick of the constantly reiterated argument that Tony Blair was a Tory in disguise. The Blair governments made changes to this country that anyone on the left should support. Equality discourse in the UK was permanently altered by his prime ministership. The Tories would not have done those things. I disagree with many things Blair did but to suggest he was no better than the Tories is arrant nonsense.

East Coast was publicly owned until very recently when Gideon decided he needed to pass it over to his friends. It was actually the most profitable line in the country before they passed it back to private hands.

Swedish I was answering a poster's point not making a vastly important politicised argument. Privatised railways benefited from investment and new amnagement. The problems didn't disaPPEAR OVERNIGHT on the WC line but the difference in Virgin's attitude to problems was astounding - they came and handed out complaints forms for a start and I got actual compensation instead of futile conversations with evasive and red faced BR staff.

'The most revealing story I've read about him is one lots of people know: he separated from his second wife because he didn't want his son to go to a selective state secondary school.'

When I first read that in the papers, I thought what type of person would do that. But then I thought that they are probably not telling us the full story and are deliberately painting it that way in order to put us off Corbyn. There must have been more to it than that and they only want to spin it their way to fool us.

As for UKIP - many of the people who voted for them are concerned about immigration and Europe. Well Corbyn has already stated his preference for leaving Europe, but Labour's stance on immigration has always been very generous and unconcerned about mass immigration, whereas immigration is a huge issue for a huge number of voters, so those who are very concerned might well stick with UKIP

This is the no 1 burning issue for the British Public as it affects all areas of life.

I can't see a man who wants un controlled immigration winning any election.

www.theguardian.com/politics/1999/may/13/uk.politicalnews2

David Willetts, the Conservative education spokesman, said: 'I hope this will have made him think very hard about the policies he is advocating. He faces a dilemma if the system he supports does not even appeal to the mother of his own child.'

Jeremy Corbyn seems a lovely man, I agree.

Exactly. Couples don't generally throw in the towel over a disagreement about their childrens' schooling. It may be a contributing factor in a split but that's a different thing entirely.

'even the BBC programme More or Less which show that the strategy of mobilising the left wing non voters won't work in these seats.'

As Ken Livingstone says, 70% of UKIP voters wanted him to be Labour leader. He will win bacs lots of UKIP voters and will win Tory middle class voters too as long as he doesn't raise tax on the middle classes. He offers a better future, better jobs, better healthcare, better prospects for children, no tuition fees etc, the ability for young people to buy and rent homes etc. That is what middle class people want as a future for their children. He will win lots of right wing votes as long as he doesn't tax middle class people. That is what worries the Tories. They will have nothing left to offer apart from smears about "the threat" Corbyn poses.