Labour Leader: Jeremy Corbyn wins – by a mile

Jeremy Corbyn has been elected Leader of the Labour Party – winning just short of 60% of the vote on the first round.

Jeremy Corbyn MP spoke to the Labour Party Conference just after the selection result was announced. He began by giving a number of thanks.

Jeremy thanked the half million people who took part in this contest across the UK. The contest had showed that the labour movement was passionate and united and democratic in their quest for a decent and better society

He thanked Ian McNichol, Labour Party General Secretary, and Labour Party staff for their hard work in this election and the General Election campaign and other ongoing ones.

He thanked Harriet Harman, who was Deputy Leader and served as Acting Leader during the contest, saying she showed absolute passion and commitment to the cause of women and Labour.

He thanked, and gave congratulations to, Tom Watson, the new Deputy Leader. He said Tom was passionate about communication and holding to account those people in the state who do not want to be held to account.

He thanked Ed Miliband, for all the work he did as Leader and, before that, as a minister. He had spoken to Ed a couple of days ago, thanking him for this – but also commending him for the way in which he stood up to media abuse while he was Leader (particularly during the General Election campaign) and the dignity he showed when his father’s name was abused too.

He thanked his fellow leadership candidates. He said that they had been to many hustings meetings together, which had been fascinating for all of them. At the meetings, they had debated and still had a group hug at the end. He speculated that they may form an Abba Tribute Band to continue this unifying spirit. He went on to thank the three other candidates individually for their own contributions to the Labour Party over the years and during this campaign.

He then announced that one of his first acts as Leader of the Labour Party would be to go to the demonstration this afternoon, which was showing support for refugees.

He thanked the thousands of Labour Party members and supporters who went to the hustings events. He said this was a tribute to the Party and showed that members and supporters want to be engaged and want the party leadership to listen to them.

Finally, he thanked his campaign team, which had come together after he had received enough nominations from fellow MPs to qualify for his name to he on the ballot paper – and thanked those MPs who had given him these nominations.

The full election result can be seen on:
http://www.labour.org.uk/blog/entry/results-of-the-labour-leadership-and-deputy-leadership-election

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