Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Jeremy Corbyn just won a bigger landslide victory than Tony Blair did in 1994's Labour leadership election

He won 59.5 per cent of the vote compared to 57 per cent for Mr Blair

Jon Stone
Sunday 13 September 2015 05:03 EDT
Comments
Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn and the party's former Prime Minister, Tony Blair
Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn and the party's former Prime Minister, Tony Blair (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership election with a higher percentage of the vote than Tony Blair did in 1994, figures show.

The long-standing backbencher won 59.5 per cent of the vote, compared to 57 per cent for Mr Blair.

Mr Blair won his result on a different voting system where an electoral college was used, however.

Mr Corbyn’s unprecedented result compared to 19 per cent for Andy Burnham, 17 per cent for Yvette Cooper and 4.5 per cent for Liz Kendall.

His election was the first conducted under the one-member, one-vote system.

When Mr Blair was elected leader MPs, trade unionists and party members all commanded a third of the vote.

Despite only gaining the bare minimum of nominations from MPs to get on the ballot paper, the new leader of the opposition proved very popular with members, registered supporters, and affiliated trade unionists.

He now faces the daunting task of leading a party whose establishment was dead-set against his victory and who warned that he could destroy the party.

Mr Blair himself told anyone who felt they supported Mr Corbyn in their heart to "get a heart transplant".

He described the left-winger as "the Tory preference" in a speech to the centrist Progress think-tank over the summer.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in