Jeremy corbyn

If there is one lesson the world should have learned from Iran’s ‘Green Revolution’ of 2009 and the so-called Arab Spring that followed, it is this: the worst regimes stay. Rulers who are only averagely appalling (Tunisia’s Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak) can be toppled by uprisings. Those who are willing to kill every one of their countrymen stay. So it is that after almost half a million dead we enter 2018 with Bashar al-Assad still President of Syria and with Iran’s mullahs approaching the 40th anniversary of their seizure of power in 1979. Last week this lesson got a chance to be learned again when protests broke

With the death toll in Iran thought to sit at 21 following a series of clashes between protesters and security forces at nationwide demonstrations, many politicians have been quick to express concern over the regime. However, Jeremy Corbyn has intriguingly gone quiet on Iran. Happily, some on the left have proved more willing to comment. The Guardian‘s Owen Jones has expressed ‘solidarity with any Iranian protestors who are fighting for democracy and freedom, both from a vicious regime and from US domination’. Meanwhile, Paul Mason – the journalist turned left wing revolutionary – has used a blog post to criticise the ‘Stalinist left’ for trying to ‘smear the protests as

With nine more people reported to have died overnight in Iran following clashes between protesters and security forces, the death toll is thought to sit at 21 following a series of nationwide demonstrations. Several politicians – including Boris Johnson – have been quick to express concern over the situation. However, despite an active Twitter feed, Jeremy Corbyn is yet to comment on the unfolding situation. This is rather curious given that the Labour leader – who says ‘to stay neutral in times of injustice is to side with the oppressor’ – has a tendency to wax lyrical about Iran, whether it’s appearing on Iranian state television or discussing ‘the inclusivity, the tolerance’

The last PMQs before the Christmas recess often has a rather pantomime atmosphere. Unfortunately, neither Jeremy Corbyn nor Theresa May are anywhere near nimble enough to be able to create anything more than the sort of play that everyone leaves at the interval – and today’s performance wasn’t helped by John Bercow’s decision to extend the previously half an hour session to 53 minutes with no apparent good reason. The Speaker himself contributed to the overrunning PMQs by providing interesting details about MPs’ weddings that he’d been invited to. Jeremy Corbyn had one Christmas pun, which was about there being ‘no room at the A&E’. Quite a difficult pun for

Oh dear. Given that Jeremy Corbyn is reported to have told Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis this summer that he would be in Downing Street by Christmas, time is running out for the Labour leader. Perhaps that’s why he has downgraded his prediction to a definitely maybe. Grazia – the weekly glossy – has snagged the Labour leader’s first interview with a women’s magazine. In the interview, Corbyn strikes a hopeful tone as he predicts ‘there will probably be another election in the next 12 months’  and he ‘will probably win’: ‘I’m ready to be Prime Minister tomorrow.’ With two polls putting the Conservatives ahead of Labour for the first time since the

John McDonnell looks exhausted, slumped in his parliamentary office chair. Nobody said the revolution would be easy. Do he and Jeremy Corbyn have any catchphrases, I ask, to gee themselves up when battered by the right-wing press, the pundits or the moderates in their own party? ‘This will send the Daily Mail wild, OK,’ he says. ‘It’s Gramsci: “Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.” ‘No matter how bad it gets, determination is what you need. We’re doing something we’ve been working for for 30, 40 years of our lives. And this opportunity has come. We didn’t expect it. But now it’s come we’re making the most of it.’

Jeremy Corbyn caused a social media flurry on Thursday after it was revealed that he is the cover star of the new issue of GQ magazine. Sticking to his socialist values, the Labour leader managed not to fall in the trap of other comrades (like Owen Jones) who put on designer gear for the glossy magazine shoot – opting to wear an M&S suit. So, what did Corbyn have to say? Well, the Labour leader discusses Corbynista slang – and specifically the term ‘centrist dad’ which is used to describe someone stuffy and out of touch – often a Blairite. However, Corbyn claims that he is a ‘centrist dad’ just one

How will the Tory party remember 2017? Will it be the year it lost its majority, alienated key sections of the electorate and paved the way for a Jeremy Corbyn premiership? Or the year when uncertainty about Britain’s future relationship with the European Union peaked, when debt finally began to fall and the Tory party resisted the temptation of a Corn Laws-style split? We won’t know for several years. What we can say with confidence is that Brexit will prove key to determining which view of 2017 wins out. On Monday, Theresa May heads to Brussels for a meeting with the European Commission. Over lunch, she will set out what

Jeremy Corbyn rarely talks about Brexit at Prime Minister’s Questions, and it is interesting that he chose today’s session, which will get little attention as a result of the Budget, to probe Theresa May on the matter. The Labour leader did have a good stint, quoting a number of European negotiators, Tory backbenchers and Cabinet Ministers who have made comments to the effect that the British government doesn’t know what it is doing on Brexit. He also accused the Tories of blocking measures protecting workers’ rights and acknowledging that animals are sentient beings. But Theresa May was on good form, too, continuing to appear as though she is regaining her

Although Jeremy Corbyn has seen a number of celebrity supporters come and go, Martin Freeman has at least proved loyal. The Hobbit actor has spoken in favour of the Labour leader – and appeared in party broadcasts. Indeed on the Andrew Marr show this morning, Freeman once again endorsed Corbyn. Only this time he added a caveat – making clear he supported Corbyn primarily because he was the leader of the Labour party as given that Labour is his ‘team’, he would support whoever held that role: AM: You quite like Jeremy Corbyn as a man, don’t you? MF: Yes, generally I think most people do, a lot of Tories

On this week’s episode we look at the social media revolution which could sweep the Tories away. We also discuss next week’s budget and agonise about the state of the nation with Jeffrey Archer. Whether it’s Jeremy Corbyn, Donald Trump or the Brexiteers, successful politicians seem to have one thing in common: a command of social media. But what about Theresa May and her party? In the magazine this week, Robert Peston is concerned that the Prime Minister might be left behind if she fails to grasp the importance of the internet. He joins the podcast along with Jamie Bartlett, Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media

After a grim few weeks for Theresa May and her government – which has seen the Prime Minister lose two Cabinet ministers, another put under investigation and calls for Boris Johnson to resign – today’s ICM/Guardian poll certainly makes for interesting reading. Rather than the Conservatives falling behind, it shows that Labour and the Tories remain neck and neck. While the Conservatives have gone down by one-point after last week’s shenanigans, May can take heart that so has Corbyn’s Labour: Tories and Labour both on 41% in latest Guardian/@ICMResearch poll – https://t.co/Z1bQ70qVW3 pic.twitter.com/MoF1mcQWdh — AndrewSparrow (@AndrewSparrow) November 15, 2017 It’s a recurring theme. A poll on Friday suggested a beleaguered

Party leaders are meeting this afternoon to discuss Westminster’s response to the sexual harassment allegations sweeping all parts of the political spectrum. Ahead of the meeting, Jeremy Corbyn has called for a training programme for MPs after every general election on how to treat their employees, while Theresa May has said that parliament itself needs a ‘proper process where people can make complaints and bring allegations’. Corbyn’s training idea makes a fair bit of sense. MPs are not elected based on their ability to run a small business, but that is effectively what they have to do with their staff in Parliament and in the constituency. When they arrive in

To ITV’s London headquarters at the ungodly hour of 3.30 a.m. Piers Morgan is sunning himself in Beverly Hills and I’m sitting in for him on Good Morning Britain. I’ve known and liked Piers for 30 years, from the days when he used to scribble for the Mirror’s showbiz page, and although we could hardly be more different we do have one thing in common: we’re both television Marmite. People either like us or loathe us. But in the mysterious, perverse alchemy of TV ratings, detesting a presenter doesn’t necessarily mean shunning their show. Viewers enjoy shouting at their bêtes noires, so it’s all good for business. I too have presenters I

Oh to be young and free and a member of Young Labour. Labour’s youth wing held its annual conference this weekend. On the menu? Votes for 16-year-olds, comradely debate and… a vote to leave Nato. Yes, in a bid to free themselves of American imperialism, the Labour MPs of tomorrow backed a motion calling for the UK to leave Nato. This motion that Labour Youth passed attacking NATO is breathtaking in the scale of its historical inaccuracy. I mean where to bloody start? pic.twitter.com/trOajS0PHY — James Bickerton (@JBickertonUK) October 15, 2017 No doubt fellow Nato-critic Corbyn will be proud… Update: In other news, the latest young Corbynista fashion trend appears to be

I think it’s fair to say that Theresa May did not have a cracking conference, but the sympathy vote might even help her. I certainly felt sorry for the Prime Minister, and instinctively don’t like the nasty playground teasing from the Men of Twitter. (She does have diabetes, too, which can’t help.) But she has to go nonetheless, not because she’s unlucky but because she has a tin ear; why else would she choose to raise such issues as racial discrimination in mental health, sores that can’t be healed but which invariably paint the Tories as the ‘Nasty Party’ – a Ratnerism she coined. Ditto with tuition fees. As for