page_title: Jeremy Corbyn
section_title: Leadership election
hierarchical_section_title: Jeremy Corbyn / Leadership of the Labour Party, 2015–2020 / Leadership election
caption_attribution_description: Jeremy Corbyn - Take Back Our World! - Global Justice Now. Cropped. Levels adjusted.
context_page_description: Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician. He was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2015 to 2020. He has been the Member of Parliament for Islington North since 1983. He was elected Leader of the Labour Party in 2015. Corbyn calls himself a democratic socialist.
  Corbyn was born in Chippenham in Wiltshire. Before becoming a politician, he worked as a representative for many trade unions. He was elected to Haringey Council in 1974. He was later secretary of the Islington Constituency Labour Party. He entered the House of Commons as an MP.
  Corbyn won many awards for his work as an international human rights activist. As an MP, he is known for his activism and for voting against the Labour whip when the party was in government under New Labour leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Corbyn works in support of the anti-austerity movement and stopping austerity cuts to public sector and welfare funding made since 2010.
  During his career, he has worked to stop big businesses and very rich people avoiding tax. He has been an anti-war and anti-nuclear activist.
context_section_description: Following the Labour Party's defeat at the general election on 7 May 2015, Ed Miliband resigned as its party leader. His resignation caused the party to have a leadership election.
  On 2 June, it was reported in media sources that Corbyn was thinking of applying to be a candidate. The next day, Corbyn announced to his local newspaper, The Islington Tribune, that he would become a candidate in the election. Before he could become a candidate he had to secure at least 35 nominations from MPs. In the end he got 36. Some of the MPs who nominated him didn't think he would win and only nominated him to have a 'broader debate'.
  Some, including former foreign secretary Margaret Becket, told journalists they regretted the decision. When he was accepted as a candidate Corbyn said: "This decision is in response to an overwhelming call by Labour Party members who want to see a broader range of candidates and a thorough debate about the future of the party. I am standing to give Labour Party members a voice in this debate". He would run against candidates Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall.
  Corbyn was elected party leader in a landslide victory on 12 September 2015 with 59.5% of first-preference votes in the first round of voting. It has been said that Corbyn would have won in the first round with 51% of votes. Corbyn's 40.5% majority was larger than that won by Tony Blair in 1994.
caption: Corbyn in February 2015
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