Telegraph Article Labours sentimental indulgence of the far left has enabled Jeremy Corbyn to crawl onto the ballot paper for the leadership contest. This is a laughable outcome which only exposes the shell-shocked turmoil within the party following its catastrophic general election defeat. For Corbyn is not a serious politician. On the contrary, he is an unreconstructed Trotskyite whose views have remain frozen ever since he attended his first demonstration in the late 1960s. If Ed Miliband was the eternal student union activist, Corbyn is the permanent rebellious adolescent. I witnessed Corbyns antics at first hand as an activist in his Islington North Labour Party for a decade, serving from 1985 as the constituency Assistant Secretary. He was certainly a hard-working, energetic MP, as well as a powerful, if sometimes histrionic, speaker like his hero Tony Benn. Because he is so open about his radicalism, he has often been regarded as a decent, principled figure. Indeed, a Blairite member of the last Labour Government once told me that she trusted Corbyn more than the moderate Chris Smith, Islington Souths long serving MP, because the former was less slippery and opportunistic. Yet in part, Corbyns supposed decency comprised unthinking subservience to a bewildering array of causes, such as the internal Labour factions like Socialist Organiser or foreign movements like Palestine Solidarity. Nor was he always the epitome of chivalric tolerance that his supporters now proclaim. In 1981, for instance, he demanded a purge of soft-left MPs such as Neil Kinnock who had failed to back Tony Benn for the Deputy Leadership. He has never seen a left-wing campaign he did not like, nor a capitalist enterprise he did not despise. This is the man who sympathised with violent Irish Republicanism in the 1980s, invited IRA representatives to the Commons a fortnight after the Brighton bombing in 1984 and, at a Troops Out meeting in 1987, stood for a

Translation/Correction Labours traditional connection to the left has enabled Jeremy Corbyn to be on the ballot paper for the leadership contest. Labour lost the election, but gained votes, which is apparently evidence for why the Labour party should be the Conservative party. Jeremy Corbyn has been an MP for Islington North for almost thirty years. Like many people he is a socialist and has displayed his principles since he attended his first demonstration in the late 1960s. Ed Miliband was once an activist like Jeremy Corbyn. I witnessed Corbyns duties as an elected MP at first hand as an activist in his Islington North Labour Party for a decade, serving from 1985 as the constituency Assistant Secretary. He was certainly a hard-working, energetic MP, as well as a powerful, if sometimes histrionic, speaker like his hero Tony Benn. [Probably true] Corbyn aligns himself with organisations which are in common with his values, and which support each other. Corbyn was upset that the party did not support his hero, who remains a hero for several other Labour MPs, members and a significant percentage of the UKs population. Corbyn has been unconvinced by several left-wing campaigns (see Lib Dems 2010). Corbyn tried to open up a means of discussion and resolution at a time of intense violence.

minutes silence to honour eight IRA terrorists killed in an SAS ambush. So great was his obsession with hardline activism that it brought about the end of his 12-year marriage to Claudia Bracchitta. She wanted to send their son Benjamin to grammar school. Corbyn, bitterly opposed to selection, felt he should go to the local comprehensive in Islington. Claudia had her way, leading to their separation. His stance was a little ironic, given that his own mother was a grammar school Maths teacher and he himself had attended Adams Grammar School in Shropshire before going to the North London Polytechnic (where he did not complete his course). His brother Piers was a science student at Imperial College alongside rock star Brian May, and was also involved in left-wing politics but later became a maverick weather forecaster, challenging some of the fashionable progressive theories about man-climate change. Jeremy had some interests outside politics cricket in particular. As a fan of the sport myself, I was impressed once after a morning out canvassing in Islington that, when we returned to my home, he was desperate to switch on the radio and find out the score from an England Test overseas. Still, from his black Leninist cap to his ever-present beard, there is something of the stage proletarian about him. His keen lack of vanity is its own kind of pretension. He is the only man I know who buys his clothes at the Dalston Co-Op, as another Islington activist waspishly put it to me. The greatest irony of all is that this self-serving iconoclast, who has spent his Parliament career defying authority and sneering at careerists, is now seeking the leadership himself. Labour will truly be doomed if he comes close to winning.

[Tasteless personal attack]

[Not ironic, further information of Corbyns personal background. Youre either a

champagne socialist or a whining scrounger.]

Jeremy Corbyn is a British human being. Jeremy Corbyn wears clothes. Jeremy Corbyn is interested in putting money in to his local community who elected him. The Labour party shouldnt be about Labour values, it should blindly and unquestionably follow the political discourse set by the Conservative Party.