Corbyn’s ‘Principled Populism’ Defies Demographic Divide

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead

Despite being victim to the longest continuous smear campaign in UK media history, Corbyn’s untiring principles to make Britain fairer, sees Labour gain momentum across class and geographic boundaries, as election fever engulfs the nation.

For someone who’s driven by a resolute commitment to lift the poorest in society out of poverty and make humanity more equal, it’s confounding how the mainstream media continuously paint Jeremy Corbyn as a betrayer of the working class.

Though what is less surprising is why the corporate media mercilessly persist in denouncing Corbyn as a working-class traitor.

The Labour leader has never made his contempt of the ruling class secret. In June this year, when Labour won the Peterborough by-election, Corbyn, as The Canary reported, “smashed the ruling class in an invigorating victory speech.”

“Bring it on. We are ready for a general election at any time… Britain will not be a country that in one year alone has handed 50 billion pounds to the tiny minority of very rich people. Instead, we’ll be a country that cares for all,” Corbyn told the people of Peterborough.

The Labour leader doesn’t refrain in announcing plans to implement a radically different approach to taxation, one which targets the heart of inequality by raising corporation tax and that of the top 5% of earners.

Through a fairer taxation system, Labour plans to properly fund rapidly deteriorating vital public services, like the NHS, education and welfare benefits.

Given that control of the UK media is concentrated in the hands of several giant corporations, it’s no wonder that the British press is quick to condemn Corbyn at every possible opportunity, including labelling him as a ‘betrayer’ of the working class.

Despite the media’s attempts to belittle and chastise Corbyn, the mood in Britain in the run-up to the election seems to be shifting Corbyn’s way.

Tired of Johnson’s lies and torturous Trump-like behaviour and Rees-Mogg’s shamefully insulting comments about the Grenfell Tower victims, support for the honest, principled and ‘straight-talking’ Labour leader seems to be gaining momentum, with both working- and middle-class supporters giving Corbyn their backing.

Like the dismal picture the polls forecast for Labour when Theresa May called an election in 2017, which the right-wing tabloids splashed across their front pages, the pollsters weren’t too sanguine of a Labour win when Johnson goaded Corbyn to “man up” and agree to a general election several weeks ago.

In typical Corbyn fashion, the Labour leader didn’t flinch. He coolly accomplished what he’d mapped out from the start, to have the possibility of a no-deal Brexit completely ruled out before agreeing to take the country to the polling stations for a snap general election.

With election campaigns now in full swing, the polls that predicted a Labour washout are beginning to change direction.

And, as the election mood begins to roll Corbyn’s way, it’s the Tories that are starting to flinch.

In Wales, a YouGov poll gives Labour a one-point lead over the Tories, a swing of four points, and in London, senior Conservatives, including Ian Duncan Smith and Zac Goldsmith, face being knocked off their seats in a closely run three-party race with Labour and the Lib Dems.

Even the Corbyn-loathing Sun had to admit predictions are showing the Labour leader is “creeping up behind” Johnson and beginning to “make inroads” on the Tories.

Adding to the Conservatives’ unease, is the growing line of high-profile figures announcing their support for Corbyn.

Sean Bean is the latest actor to pronounce he’ll be backing Labour. The actor, who grew up in a two-bedroom council house in a working-class suburb of Sheffield and is famed for his broad northern accent, says he supports Corbyn for “sticking up” for the working class and talking “a lot of sense.”

“He’s sticking up for the working-class man and its’s time we heard that voice again,” Bean said.

Another prominent actor who’s vocal in his support of Corbyn is Daniel Radcliffe. Radcliffe’s roots are working class. His father was brought up in a “very working class” Protestant family in Banbridge, Country Down, Northern Ireland.

Like Bean, despite his wealth and global renown, Radcliffe supports Labour and its left-wing mantra, admitting he admires Corbyn’s principles.

“I feel like this show of sincerity by a man who has been around long enough and stuck to his beliefs long enough that he knows them and doesn’t have to be scripted is what is making people sit up and get excited. It is great,” Radcliffe told the Big Issue.

Though the high-profile figure that created the most surprise for endorsing Corbyn, is Rupert Murdoch.

Similar to Bean and Radcliffe’s admiration of Corbyn’s untiring convictions, during the 2015 Labour leadership contest, Murdoch admitted that Corbyn is likely to win, as he was the only candidate who “believes in anything.”

While worlds apart in their views and aspirations, Corbyn and Murdoch aren’t so different in their contempt for traditional ruling class systems and indefatigable values, characteristics of Corbyn that Murdoch obviously admires.

Noting the similarities between Corbyn and Murdoch, in 2017, Toby Young, associate editor of The Spectator, wrote a piece on ‘How Rupert Murdoch made Jeremy Corbyn.’

“They share a visceral contempt for the English class system and the sclerotic institutions that underpin it,” wrote Young.

By spotting parallels between Corbyn and Murdoch, namely how Murdoch’s embracement of populism created a winning brand for the Sun by giving people what they wanted is comparable to Corbyn’s reliance on a populist movement and abandonment of the “fiscal prudence that hamstrung his predecessors and promises to spend, spend, spend,” has, for Young, meant he now appreciates Corbyn’s appeal.

“I’m a huge fan of the Sun. I love the fact it’s constantly cocking a snook at puritanical, liberal killjoys. But now I’ve seen this play, and spotted the similarities between Murdoch and Corbyn, my world has been turned upside down. I am finally beginning to understand the Labour leader’s appeal,” Young concludes.

It could be argued that this revolt from the ruling class system, which, unlike Boris Johnson and Donald Trump’s boorish populist tactics, is principled, genteel, calm and driven by the quest for greater equality, is what led to Corbyn’s rising level of support in the last election and, seemingly, in the forthcoming December election.

By clinging onto unwavering principles to make Britain fairer for all, Corbyn is garnering support from people of all social classes, locations and demographics and defying the traditional Labour/Tory voting class status quo.

The affluent middle classes, branded ‘Champaign Socialists” for their clichéd love for popping Champagne corks while preaching their support for socialism, are not holding back in sharing their admiration of Corbyn.

Rebecca, a former headteacher who left London to live in East Sussex several years ago, shared her reasons for supporting Corbyn.

“Since leaving the London ‘bubble’, I can now see the detrimental effect nine years of Tory government has had on the country. I would gladly pay the greater tax imposed on higher earners to see improvements to public services. Corbyn’s the only one who stands by his principles. He’s definitely got my vote,” said Rebecca.

And it’s not just southerners showing their support for Corbyn and Labour. In the north, where the Tory press urge for a Tory victory, breaking the so-called “red wall” and snatching seats from Labour in Brexit-supporting northern towns, Labour voters have been braving the rain and heading out in their droves to show the Labour leader their support on his recent visit to the northern counties.

Like the people of the south, Corbyn-backing northerners share their love of the Labour leader’s principles and his tenacious push for equality.

As Jacqueline Taylor, an art student at the University of Salford, who says the vibe among the students is decidedly pro-Corbyn, commented:

I’m voting for Corbyn because I believe in a better society for all, not just the privileged. With Jeremy leading the country there will be hope for every single person.”

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a freelance journalist and founder of copywriting specialists PW Copy. Gabrielle loves to research and write stories related to equality, social and economic justice, environmental issues and human rights. You can reach Gabrielle on Twitter @GabsP78.