Veteran left wing Labour MP, Jeremy Corbyn, swept to victory in the Labour Party leadership contest, with 60% of the votes. His right wing rivals were badly split, trailing far behind him. In his four month long campaign, he was supported financially and organisationally by the Aslef, BFAWU, CWU, POA, TSSA, Unite and Unison affiliated unions as well as two unaffiliated unions, the FBU and RMT. Meanwhile, Andy Burnham, a main rival, was supported by UCATT and USDAW and Yvette Cooper by Community. The GMB decided not to back any candidate as its membership was split.
For the first time in a generation, a Labour leader has been elected with views that are in line with those of the majority of the major unions. Previously, such unions had not put much effort into helping the left wing Labour MP, John McDonnell, to get on the ballot paper for the Labour leadership elections in 2007 and 2010. However, the scale of Labour’s defeat in the 2015 after five years of Conservative led austerity, convinced them to do so this time round.
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