page_title: Jeremy Corbyn
section_title: 2019 general election and resignation
hierarchical_section_title: Jeremy Corbyn / Leadership of the Labour Party, 2015–2020 / 2019 general election and resignation
caption_attribution_description: Labour leader speaking at an impromptu rally alongside the Robin Hood statue at Nottingham Castle; 4 December 2019.
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: On 29 October 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the next general election would be held on 12 December 2019. The reason was so that Conservatives could win a majority in parliament to pass a Brexit bill. Labour were left with just over 200 seats, their worst result since 1935. However, the party's share of the vote was higher than in 2015 and 2010. Conservatives won seats in England and Wales that were traditionally Labour seats, in a move the British media called: "a realignment of UK politics".
  After the Labour Party's had massive losses in the election, Corbyn stated that he plans to step down following a period of reflection causing a leadership contest. Corbyn said that he had "pride in the manifesto" that Labour put forward for the election and blamed the defeat on Brexit. 
  On 3 April 2020, in a final message to Labour Party members while leader of the party, Corbyn said, "I can assure you my voice will not be stilled. I’ll be out there campaigning for socialism, peace and justice, and I feel sure we’ll be doing that together." He also claimed that Labour in the last five years under his leadership had "changed the agenda on austerity and how the economy is run".
  On 4 April 2020, Sir Keir Starmer replaced Corbyn as Opposition Leader and Labour Party Leader.
caption: Corbyn at a Labour 2019 election campaign in Nottingham, December 2019
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