Jeremy Corbyn, Fired From Labour Party, Wins Election As Independent Candidate (image-instagram/ jeremycorbyn)
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the Labour Party has won as an independent candidate in the UK general elections. He has been representing the constituency since 1983 but this has been the first time he took part in the election without the support of his party.
Corbyn secured 24,120 votes, who was suspended from the Labour Party after he dismissed a report that found he had indulged in unlawful antisemitism. He was also barred from contesting the election as a Labour candidate.
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In his victory speech, Corbyn said that he had fought a “positive campaign”. He said that he was proud of his constituency for standing up for “kinder, gentler, more inclusive politics”.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my constituency than I am tonight and proud of our team that brought this result. Thank you very much Islington North for the result we have achieved tonight,” he added.
Corbyn was blocked from standing as the Labour candidate in March 2023 by Keir Starmer, later his announcement to stand as an independent candidate led to his expulsion.
Earlier in October 2020, Corbyn was suspended from the party and lost the parliamentary whip after describing antisemitism in Labour as “dramatically overstated for political reasons” in response to a critical report from the equality watchdog.
However, after 19 days he was readmitted to the party, but Starmer’s refusal to reinstate the whip meant he continued as an independent MP till the general election.
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Thus being not a Labour candidate, several hurdles he had to overcome during the campaigning days. One among them is that many voters in his north London constituency was unaware that he was not the party’s candidate in the election.
Corbyn’s campaign mainly relied on volunteers from across the UK coming to support door-knocking efforts. However, Corbyn’s victory has bought in an end to the tradition of Islington North voting for Labour since 1937 byelection.
