Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the Labour Party in a landslide victory.
He began the contest as an outsider who many thought would be unlikely to receive enough MP nominations, but against all initial odds, he has managed to win against Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall.
Corbyn achieved the most votes in all three voting categories, Members, Registered and Affiliated.
In a 76.3% turnout, a total of 422,664 voted. Corbyn won with 251,417 first preference votes, or 59.5%, in the first round of counting. This is almost 40% more than Andy Burnham, who came second with 19% at 80,462 votes.
Yvette Cooper came third with 17% at 71,928 votes, and Liz Kendall finished last with just 4.5% of the vote with 18,857 votes.
However, in his speech Corbyn paid tribute to his opponents, highlighting their best qualities during the campaign. He praised Andy Burnham for his passion for a free health service and comprehensive education, Yvette Cooper for positively influencing public opinion on the refugee crisis, and thanked Liz Kendall for her friendship during the campaign, saying he admires her because she stands up for what she believes in.
He said that the media did not understand the views of many young people, and that they had been written off as uninterested in politics. He argues that they are very political but have been turned off by the way politics has been conducted.
He stated that Britain cannot go on with “grotesque levels of inequality and poverty”, arguing that “we are one world. Let that message go out today”
Just minutes into Corbyn’s victory speech, the Shadow Health Minister Jamie Reed announced his resignation on Twitter.
Congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn. My resignation letter from the @UKLabour front bench. pic.twitter.com/Ul6XfvEHkZ
— Jamie Reed (@jreedmp) September 12, 2015
Tom Watson was also elected Deputy Leader with 50.7% of the vote and 198,962 votes. He won against Stella Creasy, who came second with 26.4% of the vote at 103,746 votes. Caroline Flint also made it to the final round of counting, finishing third with 22.8% at 89,538 votes.
Angela Eagle was eliminated in Round 2 at 17.9% with 72,517 votes, and Ben Bradshaw was eliminated in Round 1 with 9.6%, or 39,080 votes.
