Conservatives hold Jeremy Corbyn party at conference
Toby Young, who spoke at the event, had previously urged Conservatives to sign up to Labour Leadership contest and vote for Jeremy Corbyn
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Your support makes all the difference.The Tories held their very own Jeremy Corbyn victory party last night, celebrating their part in electing the radical left-winger elected as Labour leader and in their view handing them the 2020 election already.
Toby Young, the founder of the #Tories4Corbyn campaign that encouraged as many Conservative sign up for a vote in the Labour leadership contest by paying the £3 ‘registered supporter’ fee to “consign the party to electoral oblivion in 2020”, hosted a party along with the Guido Fawkes website at the Tory party conference on Monday night.
After dishing out free booze to the predominantly young audience, Mr Young jumped up on stage to mock Mr Corbyn for ushering in a “new spirit of decency and kindness that has swept through British politics since his election” before explaining how he had been abused as ‘Tory scum’ by the protesters outside the conference venue.
“What a shame it is that our fellow Corbyn supporters who are in Manchester this week are unable to join us tonight,” he said to cheers of “hear, hear”. “But I do wish to extend fraternal greetings to them and commend them for taking to heart Corbyn’s wise words about cutting out the personal abuse and treating people with respect.”
But he then urged his fellow Tories “not to make the mistake of dismissing Corbyn” warning that another Eurozone crisis or a Chinese stock market crash might crash global economies and make a socialist Prime Minister more attractive.
Or, he added, unauthorised biographies might be written about Boris Johnson, George Osborne and Theresa May – the contenders to replace David Cameron before 2020 – a jibe at Lord Ashcroft and Isabelle Oakshott’s book that made a number of damaging claims about the Tory leader.
Liam Fox or Nicky Morgan becoming Tory leader would also be scenarios that would put Britain in danger of electing Mr Corbyn, he joked.
“We can’t take victory in 2020 for granted,” he said. “I think we have to persuade the British people that even in these terrible circumstances socialism isn’t the answer. And to do that we have to reclaim the moral high ground on poverty and inequality.”
Mr Young finished off the party by trying – and failing – to sing the Red Flag:
Mr Corbyn was in Manchester last night himself, addressing a crowd of hundreds outside Manchester cathedral, where he urged the anti-austerity protesters to refrain from “personal abuse” and instead engage in “intelligent, civilised debate”.
Since the Tory conference began on Sunday, delegates and journalists have been abused as ‘Tory scum’ and spat at by protesters standing outside the entrance.
Charlotte Church, the singer, apologised for the behaviour but insisted it was just a “tiny” number of protesters.
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