Posts Tagged ‘Corbyn victory’

Corbyn Victory & Refugees Welcome – 2015

Thursday, September 12th, 2024

Corbyn Victory & Refugees Welcome: Saturday 12th September 2015 was a day of hope when Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership election with a landslide victory, getting more than three times the vote of his nearest rival, Andy Burnham. Several hundred Corbyn supporters met at Speakers’ Corner before the Refugees Welcome march to listen to the results of the Labour Leadership election.


Victory Party for Jeremy Corbyn – Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park,

Corbyn Victory & Refugees Welcome

Tension built as the Deputy Leader results came and then erupted with Jeremy Corbyn’s first round victory.

Corbyn Victory & Refugees Welcome

Corbyn had only been able to stand in the election because some Labour MPs who did not support him were prepared to nominate him so that the Labour left would have a candidate in the ballot and not feel it was rigged against them. They thought he would only get a miserably low percentage of the votes.

Corbyn Victory & Refugees Welcome

According to Wikipedia, the release of opinion polls before the election which showed Corbyn in the lead prompted “high-profile interventions by a number of prominent Labour figures including Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, Jack Straw, David Miliband, and Alastair Campbell, among others” who felt Labour with Corbyn as leader would be unelectable.

Corbyn Victory & Refugees Welcome

These interventions almost certainly increased support for Corbyn, and although these and other Labour figures such as Peter Mandelson, along with most of the media and press did their best to try to get rid of Corbyn, including various plots and mass resignations from the Shadow Cabinet, he remained popular in the country.

The 2017 election turned out to be a much closer contest than most had imagined, and it was only due to deliberate sabotage by Labour party officials that Corbyn lost. A leaked report in 2020 which demonstrated this led to the setting up of the Forde report into Labour party factionalism which although it called the earlier report “factional” confirmed many of its suspicions and conclusions – as well as criticising both sides in the party – remained secret until July 2022.

What shocked many of us was the evident relief shown by some leading members of the party as the 2017 election results were coming out that their party had lost. And the witch-hunt against the left in the party continues unabated.

On the 12th September 12th 2015 there was much more media interest in the few hundred celebrating Corbyn’s victory than in the huge Refugees Welcome march which followed, and in the media scrum I got knocked flying and my equipment scattered, but managed to gather it up and continue work.

Victory Party for Jeremy Corbyn


Refugees Welcome Here Rally & March

From Speakers Corner I joined the huge crowd – at least 50,000 – filling Park Lane as far as I could see. This national march was a response to the many reports of refugees fleeing war and persecution, with people wanting to show their support for refugees facing death and hardship and their disgust at the lack of compassion and inadequate response of the British government.

On My London Diary is a list and photographs of some of the speakers before the march set off. I photographed the front of the march as it set up at the southern end of Park Lane and went with it for the first couple of hundred yards into Piccadilly, where I stopped to photograph the rest of the march as it came past.

The marchers were fairly densely packed and spread across the whole of the roadway (and sometimes on to the pavement too) and it took exactly an hour to go past me.

There were many at the protest who were not the usual protesters, people who said this was the first protest they had ever attended, as well as those that I knew from previous protests, and there were many interesting placards and banners to photograph – and many more pictures on My London Diary.

As the end of the march passed me I rushed into Green Park Station and took the tube to Westminster, arriving on Whitehall as it went very noisily past Downing Street.

I ran back to Parliament Square, and this soon filled up with people and banners. I sat down on the wall close to the Churchill statue, realising I was rather tired and hungry.

Many marchers left rather than stay and listen to the speeches, though the square was still crowded and I decided I would leave too.

More on My London Diary:
Rally Says Refugees Welcome Here
Refugees are welcome here march
Refugees Welcome march reaches Parliament


FlickrFacebookMy London DiaryHull PhotosLea ValleyParis
London’s Industrial HeritageLondon Photos

All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.




Corbyn Wins & Refugees Welcome

Monday, September 12th, 2022

Corbyn Wins & Refugees Welcome

Saturday 12th September was an incredible day for British politics, as the result of the Labour leadership election was announced. Jeremy Corbyn had won what had seemed only a short time before an impossible victory, and one the could have been the start of a campaign which would have made great changes in British politics.

Corbyn Wins & Refugees Welcome

Instead it led to years of unrest in the Labour Party, with the right fighting against their own party leader who was enjoying huge popular support, both inside the party giving new hope to party members but also promoting policies that while enraging the establishment enjoyed a great deal of popular support in the country.

Corbyn Wins & Refugees Welcome

Of course they didn’t suit the powerful oligarchs who have actually run the UK for the last roughly 400 years and their representative who own and run almost all of our media went into full attack mode against Corbyn with lies and exaggerations and words taken out of context.

Had Corbyn been supported by the MPs and others in his party he might have weathered the storm and the result of the next general election could have been different. Of course Theresa May would not then have called an early general election in 2017 as she would have had far less chance of winning – and would not have had the support of Labour to do so.

People repose their rejoicing for the cameras who missed the real thing

But instead Labour MPs and party officers set out on a campaign of dirty tricks and lies against Corbyn, including a carefully choreographed series of resignations from his shadow cabinet which severely weakened but failed to remove him. Labour threw away the 2017 election becase money was diverted from key marginals into safe seats, but in the end it was still a close thing – and you could see the relief on some Labour MPs faces after the result that they had lost became clear.

Parts of the anti-Corbyn campaign became clear in the leaked private report from the party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was leaked shortly after Kier Starmer became leader. In particular this made clear the role of senior party officers trying to prevent Corbyn’s election as party leader and then their sabotaging his efforts to deal with antisemitism so as to continue attacks against him on this issue. Having read all 860 pages, which include 10,000 emails, thousands of messages from party’s internal messaging service, and 400,000 words from two WhatsApp groups used by senior party staff, while it may be selective and possibly inaccurate in some areas, its overall conclusions were unassailable. As the final publication of the Forde Report, though trying desperately to make it more palatable and removing much for legal reasons also makes clear on a detailed reading.

But in 2015 it was clear that the public wanted change and saw Corbyn as the man to deliver it. But most Labour MPs were unable to drag themselves out of their own old right-wing ways. It was a disaster for the nation and I think also the party, which show little sign of having learnt its lesson.

But had Corbyn won I think he would have disappointed many of his supporters by diluting policies under pressure from those rich and powerful oligarchs and revolts by Labour MPs who server their interests. And if he had tried to push them through and looked as if he would succeed we might have seen the democratic surface stretched to breaking point and a military government take over. This was the start of a was that Corbyn was destined to lose, and had his own party not stopped him others would have done so with all means necessary.

Victory Party for Jeremy Corbyn


Rally Says Refugees Welcome Here

A short distance away from the Corbyn Victory party people were crowding into Park Lane for the Refugees Welcome Here national march against the many reports of refugees fleeing war and persecution, suffering or dying because of the paltry response by ours and other Governments.

The UK has been particularly poor in in its response to the crisis, making it almost impossible for asylum seekers to arrive legally in the UK – and locking up many who do get here indefinitely in our immigration detention centres. Its policy appears to be based on the same racist principles as Theresa May’s ‘hostile’ environment and playing to the racist views of the Tory right.

Before the march began there were a long list of speeches, though many of the crowd would have been too far away to hear them, even with the powerful amplication systems in place. You can see pictures of many of them as well as people in the crowd on My London Diary

Rally Says Refugees Welcome Here


Refugees are welcome here march

Eventually the march set of, with over 50,000 having come from across the UK to show their support for refugees facing death and hardship and their disgust at the lack of compassion and inadequate response of the British government.

I started at the front of the march, then worked slowly with stream after stream of marchers on Piccadilly, eventually giving up at Green Park station, though there there were still marchers coming on as far as I could seen down the road. But I took the tube to Westminster to try and catch the head of the march as it arrived at Parliament Square.

Refugees are welcome here march


Refugees Welcome march reaches Parliament

People were exultant as they reached Parliament Square at the end of the march.

Alhough there was still a ring of stewards protecting the front of the march some were friendly and allowed me to go through and photograph the people as they arrived in front of the Houses of Parliament. Many had marched in the white ‘I’m a Refugee’ t-shirts.

People were still flooding in to Parliament Square which was begining to look full, but by now I was feeling very tired, and despite the promise that Jeremy Corbyn would be among the speakers I decided it was time to have a very late lunch and go home. Others could listen to the speeches and photograph the rally which was now taking place.

Refugees Welcome march reaches Parliament


Refugees and Corbyn Welcome – 2015

Sunday, September 12th, 2021

Saturday 12th September 2015 was both the day that the Labour Leadership election results were being announced and also of a large demonstration with over 50,000 people of all ages from across the UK marching through London to show their support for refugees facing death and hardship and their disgust at the lack of compassion and inadequate response of the British government.

People celebrate Corbyn’s landslide victory

It had been clear from the start of the leadership election that Labour MPs were completely out of touch with the mood of the party and of the country after five years of cuts made by the coalition government. A number of those who had given Corbyn the nomination needed for him to stand in the election had only done so with the expectation that it would lead to a humiliating defeat for him and the left, and even those who truly supported him had done so with no hope of victory. Corbyn himself had almost certainly not expected to do well, and had probably only allowed his arm to be twisted to stand after being told it was his turn to do so.

When opinion polls indicated Corbyn was the front runner, many Labour MPs panicked, with leading New Labour figures including Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Miliband all over the media saying his election would be a disaster, making the party unelectable. It was the beginning of a long campaign against him both in public and with many dirty tricks in private that resulted in Labour losing the 2017 and 2019 elections. The result of the leadership election, with a resounding 59.5% for Corbyn, three times that of his nearest rival seemed definitive proof they were wrong (and was confirmed by an increased vote of 61.8% in the 2016 leadership challenge) but the plots and back-stabbing continued to ensure defeat in the 2017 general election. But it was a close thing and Starmer and his Brexit policies were needed to make sure Labour lost dramatically in 2019 and could begin the process of purging the party of socialists.

People in Park Lane for the Refugees Are Welcome march

When Corbyn’s vote was announced I was with a crowd of a couple of hundred Corbyn supporters in Hyde Park, with around as many media people, including many TV crews. I’d taken a position before the announcement sitting on the grass with many of them behind me, but both the supporters and the media went wild, photographers and TV crews knocking me flying as I tried to get up and join the rush to get closer to where the champagne corks were popping. All the usual niceties of media scrums went tothe wind and my gear was scattered. I still managed to get a few pictures.

Maimuna Jawo a refugee from Gambia

Most of those celebrating Corbyn’s victory were like me also waiting for the start of the Refugees Welcome Here march protesting against the government’s failure to respond to the huge numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Europe, risking their lives to travel across the Mediterreanean and other dangerous routes to reach safety from civil wars and persecution. Countries on the front lines of these escape routes are flooded with more refugees than they can cope with, and while some other European countries have taken large numbers of refugees the UK has resisted doing so. Many want to come here as they speak English or have relatives or friends already in this country.

Speaker after speaker on a stage in Park Lane gave damning condemnation of the UK government to act humanely and to meet its international obligations. On My London Diary I list most of those I heard: Jean Lambert, MEP; Claude Moraes; Sabby Dhalu; Zita Holborne of BARAC; Maurice Wren from the Refugee Council; Kevin Courtney, NUT; Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron MP; Antonia Bright of Movement for Justice, Maimuna Jawo, Women for Refugee Women; Zrinka Bralo, Citizens UK; and Sam Fairbairn of People’s Assembly Against Austerity.

Park Lane was packed with people along its length and I walked though to the head of the march at its southern end and went with it for the first couple of hundred yards into Piccadilly, where I stopped to photograph the rest of the march as it came past. Fairly densely packed and spreading across the whole of the roadway (and sometimes on to the pavement) it took exactly an hour to go past me.

I took the tube from Green Park to Westminster and arrived just in time to meet the head of the march as it got to Downing St, going with it from there the short distance to its end in Parliament Square, which soon filled up. I photographed more marchers arriving and coming down Whitehall and Parliament Street and then realised I was rather tired and hungry. I sat down on a wall and had a late sandwich lunch before deciding I’d heard enoough speeches and taking the train home.

More at:
Refugees Welcome march reaches Parliament
Refugees are welcome here march
Rally Says Refugees Welcome Here
Victory Party for Jeremy Corbyn


All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.