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Agence France-Presse

British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has repeatedly beaten the odds in his long and colourful career and may stand to benefit from government divisions over Brexit - but he failed on Wednesday in his attempt to topple Prime Minister Theresa May.
The government survived a no-confidence vote called by the 69-year-old socialist after the crushing defeat of May’s Brexit plans in parliament on Tuesday.


Conservative May survived the confidence vote by 325 to 306 votes.
But the victory may prove pyrrhic and May’s future is still hanging in the balance - along with the fate of Brexit.
UK prime minister survives vote of no confidence after Brexit defeat
Corbyn has capitalised on the government’s discomfort on Brexit by focusing his own efforts on popular domestic policies such as renationalising Britain’s rickety railways.
But he has been accused of alienating centre-left moderates in his party with a more hardline approach and of failing to act quickly enough on charges of anti-Semitism against party members.
Under his leadership, some critics of his policies have also complained of being hounded by the pro-Corbyn grass roots movement Momentum - exacerbating divisions within the party.

The leftist stalwart, who has drawn comparisons to Bernie Sanders in the United States, took over the party in 2015 when a change in the rules meant new members could vote for the leadership, allowing his energetic supporters to pull off a stunning victory.
The Labour leader, a vegetarian teetotaller with a fondness for allotment gardening, is often subject to ridicule by the media.
What next for Brexit? Rocks and hard places abound as Britain faces three main scenarios
May in 2017 gambled that she could destroy her rival at the ballot box and increase her parliamentary majority ahead of vital votes on Britain’s future relationship with the EU.
But Corbyn turned the situation to his advantage, casting himself as a principled outsider battling a “rigged” system.

He was able to win enough seats off May’s Tories to deprive them of their parliamentary majority, silencing critics in his party.
Bearded, relaxed and normally tie-less, Corbyn has cultivated an image as an amiable underdog making a stand for society’s poorest and he has managed to appeal to many younger voters.
Here is British PM Theresa May’s statement to parliament, in full, following her crushing Brexit deal defeat
“It seems now clear that his approach to Labour politics resonates with the public and he is undeniably strengthened,” said Mike Finn, politics researcher at the University of Warwick.
However, Corbyn’s calls for a “kinder, gentler politics” have drawn scorn from those who point to the aggressive tactics of his supporters and his lacklustre response to the anti-Semitism row that has dogged the party since he took over.

A fixture of British politics for four decades, Corbyn boasts an impeccable socialist background - his parents met as activists in Britain during the Spanish Civil War.
He had a comfortable upbringing, spending much of his childhood in a sprawling manor in a Tory-voting village in the West Midlands.
He was elected MP for Islington, a left-wing London stronghold, in 1983 and championed a variety of human rights and pacifist causes.
He was also a serial rebel against his party’s line and a thorn in the side of centrist Labour prime minister Tony Blair, notably over the Iraq war.
A lifetime building up protest credentials endeared him to waves of young voters disillusioned with mainstream politics.
Corbyn has fought and won two leadership campaigns in two years, seems to have benefited from that experience and is at least authentic rather than, like Mrs May, robotic
Tim Bale, a professor at Queen Mary University of London
The 2016 Brexit referendum saw Corbyn vilified for lip-service-only support for the Remain campaign.
Angry moderates tried to oust him as party leader, only to be thwarted, again, by the popular party vote.
“Corbyn has fought and won two leadership campaigns in two years, seems to have benefited from that experience and is at least authentic rather than, like Mrs May, robotic,” said Tim Bale, a professor at Queen Mary University of London.
Famous for his frugality, the father-of-three holds the record among MPs for the lowest expense claims. He does not own a car and prefers to cycle, porridge-fuelled. His hobbies include making jam.
“You do your job better if you give yourself time to collect your thoughts and do something else,” he said.
His third wife Laura Alvarez is 20 years his junior and runs a company importing fair-trade coffee from her native Mexico.
They have a cat named El Gato - Spanish for “the cat” - which he sardonically claims has “socialist tendencies” because it shares its food with the neighbours’ cat.


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Brexit

Labour’s serial rebel Jeremy Corbyn fails to topple British PM Theresa May, but is strengthened by Brexit debacle

Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in London on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks during a debate before a government no-confidence vote in the House of Commons, London, Wednesday Jan. 16, 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May has won a no confidence vote later Wednesday. (Jessica Taylor, UK Parliament via AP)

(190116) -- LONDON, Jan. 16, 2019 (Xinhua) -- A demonstrator supporting British Labor party leader Jeremy Corbyn stands outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, on Jan. 16, 2019. The British parliament on Tuesday rejected overwhelmingly the Brexit deal. Main opposition Labor party leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence, with a debate scheduled for Wednesday to decide whether May's government will collapse. (Xinhua/Tim Ireland)

A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows Britain's opposition Labour party leader Jeremy COrbyn as he speaks during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons in London on January 16, 2019, ahead of a debate and vote on a motion of no confidence in the government. - Prime Minister Theresa May was expected to win a confidence vote on Wednesday despite a crushing defeat over her Brexit deal that triggered warnings of a chaotic "no-deal" divorce. (Photo by HO / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT " AFP PHOTO / PRU " - NO USE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, SATIRICAL, MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wants vote to topple PM Theresa May as Brexit defeat looms

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Photo: AP

Read his lips: British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn denies calling PM Theresa May a ‘stupid woman’ – so what did he really say?

In an image from House of Commons TV, Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn makes a statement on Wednesday after being accused of calling Prime Minister Theresa May a ‘stupid woman’. Photo: AP

Jeremy Corbyn will back second Brexit vote if Labour Party wants it

UK opposition leader at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool said he wants a general election rather than a second Brexit referendum but will be ‘bound’ by the decision of his membership when it votes Tuesday on the issue

A supporter of the U.K's opposition Labour Party poses for a photograph ahead of the annual Labour Conference in Liverpool, U.K., on Sunday, Sep. 23, 2018. Labour Party leader Jeremy  Corbyn said he wants a general election rather than a second Brexit referendum but will be “bound” by the decision of his membership when it votes Tuesday on the issue. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Anti-Brexit protesters march with placards near the annual Labour Conference in Liverpool, U.K., on Sunday, Sep. 23, 2018. Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wants a general election rather than a second Brexit referendum but will be “bound” by the decision of his membership when it votes Tuesday on the issue. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Attendees arrives at the annual Labour Conference in Liverpool, U.K., on Sunday, Sep. 23, 2018. Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wants a general election rather than a second Brexit referendum but will be “bound” by the decision of his membership when it votes Tuesday on the issue. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the UK’s opposition Labour Party, looks on during opening speeches at the annual Labour Conference in Liverpool on Sunday. Photo: Bloomberg

Jeremy Corbyn says sorry for Labour's ‘real’ anti-Semitism problem

The opposition leader made his second attempt in three days to allay concerns of British Jews

Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in London last month. Photo: AFP

Brexit defeat for Theresa May should mark turning point in British crisis

UK prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, forged after two years of difficult negotiations with the EU, was defeated by 432 votes to 202 in the biggest parliamentary loss by a British government for more than 100 years. Photo: Bloomberg

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He’s a teetotal vegetarian who makes his own jam, and even his cat is a socialist


The Labour leader is a teetotal vegetarian who makes his own jam, and even his cat is a socialist.


Theresa May

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Labour’s serial rebel Jeremy Corbyn fails to topple British PM Theresa May, but is strengthened by Brexit debacle

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}He’s a teetotal vegetarian who makes his own jam, and even his cat is a socialist

.css-jfmysa{display:inline;word-break:break-word;}.css-1ankfgb{cursor:pointer;display:inline;word-break:break-word;}UK prime minister survives vote of no confidence after Brexit defeat

He’s a teetotal vegetarian who makes his own jam, and even his cat is a socialist

UK prime minister survives vote of no confidence after Brexit defeat