Jeremy Corbyn: Difference between revisions

Returning to the UK in 1971, he worked as an [[Union organizer|official]] for the [[National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers]].<ref name="roth profile" /> Corbyn began a course in [[Trade Union]] Studies at [[North London Polytechnic]] but left after a year without a degree after a series of arguments with his tutors over the curriculum.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wheeler|first1=Brian|title=The Jeremy Corbyn Story: Profile of Labour leader|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34184265|accessdate=21 May 2017|agency=BBC|date=24 September 2016|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912194927/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34184265|archivedate=12 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Mount |first=Harry |author-link=Harry Mount |date=24 October 2015 |title=Corbyn's purge of the Oxbridge set |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/10/labours-purge-of-oxbridge-intellectuals/ |newspaper=[[The Spectator]] |access-date=29 April 2018}}</ref> He worked as a trade union organiser for the [[National Union of Public Employees]] and [[Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union]],<ref name="roth profile" /><ref name=beeb /><ref name="Hattenstone">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/17/jeremy-corbyn-labour-leadership-dont-do-personal|title=Jeremy Corbyn: 'I don't do personal'|first=Simon|last=Hattenstone|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=17 June 2015|accessdate=20 June 2015|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621045700/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/17/jeremy-corbyn-labour-leadership-dont-do-personal|archivedate=21 June 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> where his union was approached by [[Tony Benn]] and "encouraged ... to produce a blueprint for workers' control of [[British Leyland]]"; the plans did not proceed after Benn was moved to a different Department.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Corbyn|first1=Jeremy|title=Tony Benn: A titan of our movement|url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-08f9-Tony-Benn-A-titan-of-our-movement|accessdate=6 June 2016|work=Morning Star|date=17 March 2014|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701114201/https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-08f9-Tony-Benn-A-titan-of-our-movement|archivedate=1 July 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

He was appointed a [[Area health authority|member]] of a [[district health authority]] and in early 1974, at the age of 24, he was elected to [[London Borough of Haringey|Haringey Council]] in South Hornsey [[Wards of the United Kingdom|ward]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://londondatastore-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/LBCE_1974-5-2.pdf |title=London Borough Council Elections 2 May 1974 |publisher=Intelligence Unit, Greater London Council |year=1974 |page=34 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008082403/http://londondatastore-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/LBCE_1974-5-2.pdf |archivedate=8 October 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> After boundary changes in 1978 he was re-elected in [[Harringay]]Haringey ward as [[councillor]], remaining so until 1983.<ref name=ft /><ref name="jeremycorbyn.org.uk">{{cite web |url=http://jeremycorbyn.org.uk/about/ |title=About me – Jeremy Corbyn MP |work=jeremycorbyn.org.uk |accessdate=20 June 2015 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619072225/http://jeremycorbyn.org.uk/about/ |archivedate=19 June 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> As a delegate from [[Hornsey (UK Parliament constituency)|Hornsey]] to the [[Labour Party (UK) Conference|Labour Party conference]] in 1978, Corbyn successfully moved a motion calling for dentists to be employed by the NHS rather than private contractors.<ref>{{cite book |title=Report of the Seventyseventh Annual Conference of the Labour Party, Blackpool 1978 |year=1978 |page=188}}</ref> He also spoke in another debate, describing a motion calling for greater support for law and order as "more appropriate to the National Front than to the Labour Party".<ref>{{cite book |title=Report of the Seventyseventh Annual Conference of the Labour Party, Blackpool 1978 |year=1978 |pages=376–77}}</ref>

Corbyn became the local Labour Party's agent and organiser,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/185950380?accountid=17321 |title=London anti-Front rally banned |last=Walker |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Walker (reporter) |publisher=The Guardian |date=21 April 1977 |page=2 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121125430/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35371204 |archivedate=21 January 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> and had responsibility for the 1979 general election campaign in Hornsey.<ref name="roth profile" /> Around this time, he became involved with ''[[London Labour Briefing]],'' where he was a contributor and member of the editorial board during the 1980s. It has been reported that he served as its general secretary for some time.<ref>{{cite news|title=Briefing Lives|work=[[Private Eye]]|issue=1406|publisher=Pressdram Ltd|date=27 November 2015|location=London|page=14}}</ref> He worked on [[Tony Benn]]'s [[Labour Party (UK) deputy leadership election, 1981|unsuccessful deputy leadership campaign in 1981]]. He was keen to allow former [[International Marxist Group]] member [[Tariq Ali]] to join the party, despite Labour's National Executive having declared him unacceptable, and declared that "so far as we are concerned ... he's a member of the party and he'll be issued with a card."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/186205704?accountid=17321 |title=Tariq Ali's triumph snatched from his grasp |subscription=y |last=Linton |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Linton |publisher=The Guardian |date=18 December 1981 |page=24 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121125430/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35371204 |archivedate=21 January 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In May 1982, when Corbyn was chairman of the Constituency Labour Party, Ali was given a party card signed by Corbyn;<ref>{{cite news |url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/186328348?accountid=17321 |title=Defiant Labour officials give Tariq Ali card |subscription=y |last=Linton |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Linton |publisher=The Guardian |date=28 May 1982 |page=4 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121125430/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35371204 |archivedate=21 January 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> in November the local party voted by 17 to 14 to insist on his membership "up to and including the point of disbandment of the party".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/186401227?accountid=17321 |title=Hornsey Labour rebels back Tariq Ali's membership |subscription=y |publisher=The Guardian |date=10 November 1982 |page=26 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121125430/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35371204 |archivedate=21 January 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In the July 1982 edition of ''[[London Labour Briefing]]'', Corbyn opposed expulsions of the [[Militant tendency]], saying that "If expulsions are in order for Militant, they should apply to us too." In the same year, he was the "provisional convener" of "Defeat the Witch-Hunt Campaign", based at Corbyn's then address.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Crick|first1=Michael|title=Militant|date=10 March 2016|location=London|publisher=Biteback Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-1-78590-029-7|pages=xvii–xviii|quote=An article in the July 1982 edition of ''London Labour Briefing'' illustrated Corbyn's public stance: 'If expulsions are in order for Militant,' he wrote, 'they should apply to us too.' And Corbyn, a year before he became an MP, announced himself as 'provisional convenor' of the new 'Defeat the Witch-Hunt Campaign'. It was based at an address in Lausanne Road in Hornsey, north London, Corbyn's own home at that time.}}</ref>