Labour starts leadership vote with Corbyn in front

Britain’s main opposition Labour party has started voting for its new leader with veteran politician, Jeremy Corbyn, remains at the top of all opinion polls.

The leadership election is being held months after the party’s previous leader Ed Miliband resigned in the wake of the May general election debacle.

The 66-year-old Corbyn’s entry into the leadership race has attracted surging grassroots support especially from young metropolitan professionals. He has three other challengers: Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper who held ministerial portfolios under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as well as backbench MP Liz Kendall.

Corbyn has never held a front-line political job despite being elected as an MP since 1983. On the floor of parliament, he is known for his opposition to some of the policies of the governments of his own party such as austerity cuts and the 2003 Iraq war.

 

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