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.

I can absolutely see why so many people feel that JC is a refreshing change in politics today, but I do have doubts about how much he can do in reality.

Firstly he has split his own party, with quite a few Labour MPs saying they can't/won't support him, and Labours voters saying they won't vote for him. Can he attract enough new Left wing voters to make up for the more Centrist and floating voters that he will lose?

It's true that voters of a Leftist persuasion haven't had anyone to vote for for a very long time, but I think that Tom Watson is mistaken when he said, in his acceptance speech, that Britain is a left wing country. Scotland is a lot more left wing than England, and Labour has always depended on the Scottish vote for victory, and that vote has transferred to the SNP for the time being.

Interesting times for sure in any case!

Lumpy - do you really think N Korea is a better place to live than UK?

I also meant to add that just because many people don't vote because of the lack of a left wing candidate, it doesn't follow that everyone who doesn't vote will now up and vote for JC.

Very pleased. Labour just assured us for 10 years of Tory rule. That will be of huge benefit to this nation.

I would vote labour now, also haven't since Blair got in. Mind you our local labour candidate in the last election was a huge huge prat; far more Tory than any Tory I have come across.
There Tories don't stand a chance now.

Everyone I now in RL leans more to the left and feels they have no one to vote for who represents their views.

Some of Corbyn's policies are very attractive to me, as a floating, working class voter and would represent the people I live and work with more than any of the recent choices for leadership we've had.

Rent caps, increased social housing, cracking down on tax evasion, scrapping tuition fees are all things I could get behind.

Having said that, 15 minutes ago I didn't have a clue what his policies were.

Andante, do you really think that we will become North Korea under a Corbyn government? I'm more scared by the reality of our tory government and the harm they are doing to our society.

Its not Corben that will cost labour the the next election, its his own party fucking him over that will do it.

I think it is the best result for British politics. It should re-energise the Labour party (as long as the internal party machine doesn't self-sabotage).

As for the Tory voters who think JC being leader will lead to another Tory GE win then they are showing their political and historical ignorance. After another 4 years of the Tories in power, Labour will win regardless of their leader. The swing voters will swing to the Left and all those people who didn't look too closely at Tory policies and whose lives will have been much harder under the Tories will not make the same mistake at the next GE.

In the meantime, JC is the best person to challenge David Cameron. The Tory leadership and party machine are well aware of that hence their double-bluff of saying they hoped JC would win. They will be feeling distinctly nervous and indeed you can already see that by the statement from the Defence Secretary. They are coming out hard against JC not because they think he guarantees a Tory win but because they're worried of exactly the opposite.

'Andante, do you really think that we will become North Korea under a Corbyn government?'

Oh, does North Korea look after their disabled, and their poor, and make businesses more ethical in the way they treat their employees? Does it campaign for peace, reduction in arms, welcome refugees?

Goodness!

I told dh that we can expect even fiercer sabotage of anything the poor and disadvantaged rely on to survive now as the Tories make a desperate attempt at ensuring that the country is as ruined as possible before Corbyn gets in.

DH said that the Tories will slow down, as they feel they've won the next election.

I do hope so.

'People think he is unelectable because he is Left Wing.
Because apparently Left wing politicians should be right wing to have a chance of being elected.'

This ^.

What on earth is the point of electing a party for the sole purpose of it 'getting in'? Policies matter. Action matters even more and JC lives by his own principles.

'He will be 70 at next GE - so likely has very little time left in politics to make an effective change'

Hillary Clinton is 67 (will be 68 in October). Putin is 62. Angela Merkel is 61. If they're all around in 2020, they'll be 72, 67 and 66. He'll hardly be years and years older than any other world leader will he?!

The 'too old' thing is clearly nonsense. If he were 80 and all the other world leaders were 25 you might have a point, but really...?

A friend thinks that JC will be the leader of the opposition and take the flames until GE time, when TW will come out of the protected shadows and go forward for the GE with JC full support.

Yep, TW is positioning himself...

To those worrying about his stance on women in politics; he said on the webchat on here (look it up) that he is committed to a 50% female cabinet.

A place on the couch- has just put into coherent paragraphs what I have been trying to say. Thank you.
Im going to copy and paste and carry around on a laminated card for the next 5 years.

Isn't the point that whilst the electorate hasn't had the opportunity to vote for "properly left wing policies" in the last 2 elections, they have had the opportunity to vote for the more left wing of the two options and has rejected it. Therefore, expecting the electorate to move more left wing just because someone put Jezza on the ballot is a bit nonsensical.

Tom Watson gives me the creeps.

Keyser I didn't vote Labour in the last election because I didn't think it was 'more left wing' at all. I thought it was right wing, very much so, but also incompetently so.

I couldn't keep my integrity if I voted for that.

The majority didn't vote for the Tories, 23% is not a majority.

The majority voted for a number of parties because there was no one party that represented their views.

A lot of Labour voters went Ukip, Green, SNP because Labour no longer stood for what they believed in.

APlaceonthecouch puts it succinctly.
Many people I know in rl who voted tory now regret it after the budget and cuts in tax credits.

I wonder what the constituency members of the MPs refusing to back him will be? Why is their view more important than the view of the membership that has been so clearly stated?

queen so who did you vote for?

I think the resignations are honourable (though they would look like hypocrites if they didn't happen).

If you realise that your stance isn't popular then get the hell outta the way. That takes guts from people who are career politicians.