Jeremy Corbyn is leading the first round of voting in the race to become the new Labour leader, private internal polling seen by the New Statesman has revealed.
The hard left veteran and Islamist sympathiser who supports a “soviet style planned economy”, was a shock addition to the candidacy list, nominated to “broaden the debate” by MPs who assumed he would come last.
However, according to Labour’s internal polling:
“If vote share and constituency nominations mirrored each other, Burnham would be ahead of the pack with 39 per cent, Corbyn would be second with 33 per cent, Cooper third with 25 per cent, and Kendall fourth with four per cent. However, it appears that Labour’s preferential voting system – used both for the final contest and to nominate by local parties – is masking Corbyn’s strength in the first round. One survey has Corbyn ahead by more than 15 points. Another puts him in what one campaign staffer called ‘a commanding position…he is on course to win’.”
Jon Trickett, Labour MP for Hemsworth, took to Twitter to suggest the leak may be a dirty trick orchestrated by one of the candidates losing out to Corybn.
‘Red Ed’ Miliband was elected Labour leader thanks to the unions’ block voting power, who by default throw their weight behind the most left-wing candidate. That power is now gone, but thousands of union member and activists, wildly out of touch with the British electorate, continue to drag the party even further left.
Something Labour MPs recognise, with some reported to have said privately that his surprise success is an electoral “disaster” for the party, which will “now be stuck with him.”
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