How Jeremy Corbyn defied his critics, a hostile media and even his own party to deliver stunning election turnaround
May called the election in no small part because polls indicated that not only was Labour lagging badly but people’s personal opinion of Corbyn was deeply unfavourable
The man who began his campaign to be Labour leader as a 100-1 outsider, and was routinely derided as unelectable, increased the number of Labour seats, a prospect seen by many as unthinkable when the election was called on 18 April.
As a series of Conservative target seats stayed resolutely in Labour hands, followed by a string of gains for his party, pre-election speculation about what scale of losses would necessitate a Corbyn exit was replaced by exultant talk of a new style of politics.
From the moment the exit poll arrived at 10pm on Thursday, indicating that Labour would increase its number of seats by 34, with a net loss of 17 for the Conservatives, the former was ebullient, with a spokesman saying this would be “an extraordinary result”.
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There’s never been such a turnaround in a course of a campaign. The Tories have been punished for taking the British people for granted
“There’s never been such a turnaround in a course of a campaign,” he said. “It looks like the Tories have been punished for taking the British people for granted.”