"I will not lead the party in any election," said British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, since his conscription from Islington, after the results were announced Thursday evening. The 70-year-old man certainly won his tenth deputy, but he must now take responsibility for the worst Labor score since 1935, recorded Thursday December 12 during legislative elections in the United Kingdom.
Despite this announcement, the former union activist will however continue to "lead the party" for a "reflection on the election results" and "on the party" itself, he reaffirmed Friday morning, rejecting calls for his immediate departure. Labor is expected to appoint a new leader in early 2020, when the #CorbynOut keyword was among the most used on Twitter in the UK on Friday.
According to the final results, Labor retains only 203 seats in the House of Commons, 59 less than in the last election in 2017. The Conservatives, meanwhile, largely obtained an absolute majority, with 365 seats out of the 650 in the House , assuring Prime Minister Boris Johnson to remain at his post and to have a free hand to leave the European Union on January 31.
"Predictable defeat" of "most unpopular" leader
After such a fall, the openly socialist line of Jeremy Corbyn is called into question. Arriving at the head of the party in 2015 against all odds, the leader had managed to attract many young people into his ranks and to bring back former activists who had left the party during the socio-democratic years of Prime Ministers Tony Blair (1997 -2007) and Gordon Brown (2007-2010).
This "defeat was predictable," said France 24 Steven Fielding, professor of political history at the University of Nottingham. "Jeremy Corbyn has become the most unpopular Labor leader since the creation of opinion polls, even though he had rather a good position at the start of the campaign," explains this Labor expert.
Charges of anti-Semitism
In addition to his image of "dangerous Marxist" conveyed by the financial circles, Jeremy Corbyn was undermined by accusations of the British Jewish community to have allowed anti-Semitism to flourish within his formation ... and to have remained ambiguous in subject of Brexit.
"For all moderate voters or those from traditionally Labor circles, there were three problems: Jeremy Corbyn himself, whom they dislike, his ambiguous position on Brexit and his program," analyzes Steven Fielding. "These voters are very favorable to its measures to renationalise companies, investments, among others ... To the point of finding them not very credible." Either a program too good to be true.
"Serious miscalculation" on Brexit
Eurosceptic in a party whose deputies are mainly Europhiles, the man with the short white beard had chosen to maintain the ambiguity in front of the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, brandishing the proposal for a second referendum in case of victory of his camp. "It was a serious miscalculation," said Steven Fielding.
A longtime pro-Palestinian activist, he was also accused by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of letting "the poison" of anti-Semitism win his party, in a column in The Times.
A controversy "which certainly did not help" the party, analyzes Steven Fielding. "Voters were not demotivated for exactly that, but this affair added to the suspicion about him, already strong because of his sympathy for terrorist groups like Hamas or the IRA."
"Corbyn in total denial"
"People just didn't want him in power. They couldn't point to a single reason and they didn't want Boris Johnson either ... but they reject Corbyn even more," said the expert. "These elections were simply a referendum on Jeremy Corbyn," Andrew Adonis, who was a minister under Tony Blair's government, also told AFP.
"Jeremy Corbyn and many members of Labor are in total denial," analyzes Steven Fielding. "He could say that it was the media's fault and a bad image that they disseminated, but people did not want him, in reality," he adds.
Cutting off any debate on the ideological positioning of the party, Jeremy Corbyn argued that his message had been overwhelmed by Brexit, and warned Friday: "The questions of social justice and the needs of the people will not go away."
"This election was taken over ultimately by Brexit"
Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn says he is "obviously very sad" at the result of the UK general election, adding he tried to "reach out beyond the Brexit divide" because "the country has to come together" https://t.co/ oNI9nxV4O1 pic.twitter.com/5dE65lWLtw
After the loss of historic bastions, Labor in a dead end?
"Labor is in serious trouble and no outcome is on the horizon", explains Steven Fielding to France 24. "This is the fourth Labor defeat in a row: they lost in 2010 with the socio-democratic line New Labor overseen by Gordon Brown, then with Ed Miliband in 2015 when they rebalanced their line, and now twice in a row with Jeremy Corbyn's far-left approach. "
A dead end, according to the researcher. Especially since Labor also lost strongholds to the Conservatives during the legislative elections on Thursday. The latter brought down the British "Red Wall": workers' districts historically won over to the party, in the north and center of England. The city of Burnley, for example, elected a Conservative member for the first time in 109 years.
"The question is not only whether Jeremy Corbyn can survive as a chef but who will succeed him," said Sara Hobolt, professor at the London School of Economics, in an interview with AFP.
According to Steven Fielding, the leader of the opposition could take advantage of the "period of reflection to gain acceptance for his runner-up". However, "the next Labor leader should not be an absolute corbynist, but rather someone who takes into account some of his measures to make them more credible and acceptable to all".
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