NEWS BRIEF Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, has decisively won the leadership battle that had fractured the British left since the Brexit referendum in June.
The 67-year-old opposition leader sailed to victory with 61.8 percent of the vote from Labour members, party officials announced in Liverpool on Saturday. Owen Smith, a relative moderate and a former member of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, received 38.2 percent of the vote.
Speaking after the results were announced, Corbyn made a bid for unity after a summer of heated clashes between himself and most of the party’s members of Parliament.
“We have much more in common than that which divides us,” he told party members. “Let’s wipe that slate clean from today and get on with the work we’ve got to do as a party together.”
Corbyn emerged from the contest with a broad mandate from all three tiers of Labour’s base. 59 percent of the votes cast by full party members backed him, as did 60.2 percent of those cast by members of the trade unions affiliated with Labour. Among the party’s registered supporters, the lowest tier of membership where Corbyn’s support is also strongest, he captured a commanding 69.9 percent of the votes.