Why do some people think Corbyn was a ‘terrifying prospect’?

[StillCuriouser]

Taking a quote from a comment made on another thread.

I am not massively engaged in politics, but from what I understand Corbyn was pro-environment, pro-public services and re-nationalisation, he was a man who lived according to his own values.
He was laughed at for riding a bike and making jam. He was accused of being anti-semitic, though I didn't see any persuasive evidence of this, and- though not wanting to engage in whataboutery- Johnson’s awful racist remarks didn’t prevent him from gaining power.

I understand that people will have disagreed with him in policy. But what about him was did people feel was “terrifying” and so beyond the pale?
If Boris was electable and Corbyn was not I feel there must be something horrific about Corbyn that I am missing?

It’s this sort of sneering bigotry that turns good people away from Labour.

Agree the Left might have to stop sneering and put up a reason for people to vote for them. I’d welcome it

All his political life he was anti EU. Vehemently so. Then when he was leader he supported Remain, but never addressed the surprise change in policy belief.

"Corbyn was pro Palestinian, which anyone in their right mind should be too."
Wrong.

First of all, you’re speaking with a hell of a lot of hindsight in what we now know of Boris Johnson and what is now widespread common knowledge that wasn’t in 2019. Making comparisons to 2022 Boris to 2019 Corbyn isn’t a useful exercise in why so many voters turned against Labour in the general election.

Second of all, you talk about the red wall turning blue as though those swing voters turned from Labour supporters to Conservative supporters. Some individuals did swing that way, but mostly it was a swing from one left leaning party to another - more swung from Labour to LibDems or Green, or did not vote at all, because Corbyn polarised the Labour party so much. Therefore, simply, the Conservatives achieves the majority as Labour votes went elsewhere. This is why Corbynites were so furious with LibDem voters after the election.

Labour has always been most successful as a left-leaning centralist party. Corbyn did not promote that.

I have been closely observing the behaviour of the Conservative government, and as far as I can tell they don't believe in limited government, but rather massive government spending on enriching themselves and their mates at the expense of everyone else who is foolish enough to pay taxes.

@orbitalcrisis the Nordic countries are not socialists. They are social democrats and if you look into the ideology it is essentially traditionalistic conservatism in that the broadest shoulders must carry the largest burden but everyone is also expected to do their best for the common good.

A lot of business people from non-Nordic countries have been seriously screwed over by the very skilled capitalist business people in the Nordic countries because they think that they are dealing with socialists who do not understand capitalism. Yes, the employees in the Nordic countries get treated well but that doesn't mean the companies do not have a solid profit. They do.

Because that’s what the media told them to think.

Did you read the thread at all? People have written pretty comprehensive answers and you just gave the most ironic answer on the thread.

I would agree with you, but I'm Jewish, and as Mr Corbyn so kindly explained, Jews don't understand English irony, even if we've lived here all our lives.

Thank you for sharing this excellent article. It explains beautifully why my left-leaning rabbi actively campaigned against Corbyn. And why antisemitism thrived in the Labour Party under his watch.

Thank you for that - shocking.
People making light of antisemitism should be ashamed.

I thought it particularly ironic that in June 2022, Boris Johnson faced a vote of no confidence in which Tory MPs voted 211 to 148 to back him, yet a month later he is out. In June 2016, Jeremy Corbyn faced a vote of no confidence and Labour MPs voted 172 to 40 to dump him, yet he stayed on as leader until April 2020.

That seems a pretty big issue to me over the other things supporters mention eg media and so on

His MPs had insight from electorate that things weren’t good but he said no re leaving