Corbyn became leader of Labour following the general election of 2015, when its previous leader, Ed Miliband, lost the election and resigned. Corbyn was an unlikely candidate, having been a left-winger on the back benches, constantly at odds with the party leadership.
Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray, tweeted March 11:
Often asked why I resigned from Shadow Cabinet. Ladies & Gentlemen I give u Jeremy Corbyn. He's destroying the party that soo many need.
— Ian Murray (@IanMurrayMP) 11 March 2017
Corbyn has been heavily criticized for having been a long-time euroskeptic who led a lacklustre campaign for Britain to remain in the EU — in the run-up to the referendum, June 23, 2016 — as it was official Labour Party policy to remain in the union.
However, Labour is split over the issue, with many pro-EU MPs representing constituencies where the majority voted to leave the EU. He has gathered increasing opposition, because he has agreed to support the government on triggering Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, taking the UK out of the EU, which goes against party policy.
In February, Labour lost the parliamentary seat of Copeland, in north west England, which it had held since 1935, marking a new low for the party. For the Conservatives to have won Copeland after having been in Labour hands for 80 years is a clear sign of the disarray within the Labour Party — its grassroots membership, its disparate splinter groups and the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) under Corbyn.
Corbyn became leader as a result of a rule change making it easier and cheaper to gain membership and vote. Left-wing supporters — including the pro-Corbyn Momentum movement — used the rule change to boost membership, which led to him winning a leadership challenge, 2016, with an increased majority.
However, the latest ComRes poll shows that just a third (32 percent) of Labour voters think Corbyn is the right person to lead the party into the 2020 general election. However, the story is worse when the voting intentions of non-Labour voters — those the party needs to win over — are taken into account.
Seventy-seven percent believe the party doesn't have the right leader, 73 percent think it doesn't have the right policies and 71 percent think it has lost touch with the working classes.
