Jeremy Corbyn

About

Jeremy Corbyn is a British politician who identifies as a democratic-socialist. He currently serves as leader of the left-leaning Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition to Prime Minister Theresa May. Online, he has earned him a large amount of support on social media.

History

Corbyn was born in 1949 in Chippenham, England.^[1] After education and work that saw him working for unions and other left-leaning policies, he was elected to Parliament for the Islington North constituency in 1983. There, he worked with the Labour Party in opposition. In the mid-80s, he was suspected of having ties to Irish revolutionary group the IRA as he worked to defend wrongfully charged IRA suspects in 1980s bombings. When Labour took power from 1997-2010, Corbyn was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) who voted against their policies the most. Corbyn opposed the war in Iraq and led the Stop The War Coalition in British Parliament.

Leadership of the Labour Party

When the Labour Party lost the May 7th, 2015 general election, its leader, Ed Miliand, resigned, sparking a snap election for party leadership which Corbyn won. Corbyn was also named Leader of the Opposition on September 12th. He was criticized by some for "lukewarm" campaigning against Brexit. These criticisms led to 23 out of 31 members of his Shadow Cabinet to resign and led to a vote of no confidence in Corbyn. Corbyn lost that vote 172-40, but did not resign despite pressure from party leaders. An election for Labour leadership in 2016 saw Corbyn win with 61.8% of the vote.

2017 British Election

On April 19th, 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May called for a snap election to be held on June 8th. Though the next general election was not due to be held until 2020, May called the election with the intent of gaining more seats in Parliament than the conservative party's 330. A stronger conservative majority seemed likely as opinion polls at the time showed May with as much as a 20 point lead over her opposition. Major issues discussed in the campaign were Brexit, national security, and social care. May campaigned on generating support Brexit and lower domestic taxes while Corbyn campaigned on public spending and that services such as education were being underfunded.

Hours after May called the snap election, Corbyn, Sturdgeon of the SNP party, and Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats all called for televised debates. May opposed any televised debates, but the BBC announced they would host debates to be held on May 31st and June 6th, whether or not May attended. Labour ruled out Corbyn attending if May did not attend, but on May 31st, Corbyn did appear at the debate, while the conservatives sent Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Meanwhile, Corbyn and the Labour Party gained significantly in the polls, cutting the Conservative Party's 20 point lead to about 6 points.

On June 8th, the Labour Party performed much better than most expected, gaining 29 seats for a total of 261. The Conservatives, meanwhile, lost 13 seats, and while they still had a majority, they lost their absolute majority, resulting in a hung parliament. It is expected that the Conservatives will attempt to align with the Democratic Unionist Party to form a coalition government.

Social Media Presence

Corbyn is quite popular on social media, with over 1.2 million Facebook likes^[8] and 1.26 million Twitter followers.^[9]

Related Memes

The Absolute Boy

Online, Corbyn is often referred to as "The Absolute Boy." The term is British slang for a somewhat mischievous lad; The Guardian^[2] said the phrase "shows the youth demographic adopting Corbyn as one of their own and in their own vernacular" and that it shows "benevolent laddism." The earliest reference in the media to Corbyn being "The Absolute Boy" was posted June 1st, 2017 by SB Nation blog The Busby Babe,^[3] a fan blog for the Manchester United Football Club. The phrase took off online in tweets referring to Corbyn. Lena Dunham posted an Instagram photo^[4] on June 5th voicing her support for Corbyn with a pin calling him The Absolute Boy (shown below).

Meanwhile, supporters of Corbyn on Twitter^[7] continued to lovingly refer to him with the nickname. A Change.org^[6] petition was created asking Corbyn make his Twitter name "The Absolute Boy" for 24 hours. A question about the origins of the phrase was posted to /r/OutOfTheLoop^[5] on June 9th, 2017.

Search Interest

External References