Corbyn now leading!
David Cameron must now be seriously thinking of reneging on his vow not to seek a third term. The Telegraph reports:
Jeremy Corbyn, the hard left Labour leadership candidate, is ahead in the race to succeed Ed Miliband by more than 15 points, private polling by his rivals suggests.
Mr Corbyn, who was a last minute entry into the contest, now looks set for victory and has taken a “commanding position” ahead of his rivals Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall.
Mr Corbyn, 66, is a veteran socialist who has called for an anti-austerity economic policy and struggled earlier this week to explain during a Channel 4 News appearance why he previously described the Islamist militant organisations Hamas and Hezbollah as ‘friends’.
This guy makes Michael Foot look moderate
His campaign has been boosted by Unite, Britain’s biggest union, which has backed his campaign and has already signed up 50,000 people to take part in the vote.
The latest polling, seen by the New Statesman, puts Mr Corbyn ahead once second preference votes have been taken into account.
On first preferences Mr Burnham is said to be winning with 39 per cent of the vote. Mr Corbyn is second on 33 per cent, Ms Cooper third with 25 per cent and Ms Kendall trailing in a distant fourth with just 4 per cent.
God bless the Unite union.