Jeremy Corbyn, described (fondly) by one of his closest parliamentary friends as “crap” and “not the best”, will be speaking at a special meeting of the Croydon branch of Your Party at Ruskin House tomorrow night, Friday November 13.
“Tickets for the meeting are almost sold out,” according to the organisers. “Corbyn is a big draw.”
Your Party was established last year amid internal rancour and paralysing disorganisation. In May, with 70 council seats being contested across the borough, Your Party managed to field just a single council candidate in the Croydon local elections. They finished 16th of the candidates in Thornton Heath ward. And now it is uncertain whether they will have a candidate for Mayor of London in 2028.
From the initial 700,000 people who expressed interest in joining the fledgling party of the left, Your Party membership has settled down to around 50,000 nationally, as despite having two MPs – parliamentary leader Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South – doubts linger about the viability of Your Party as a political force. The Greens have more than 210,000 members in England and Wales, and eight Croydon councillors.
According to one of the organisers of tomorrow night’s event in Croydon, “I anticipate that Jeremy will speak not only about the future of Your Party but also his views on domestic and international issues.”
In 2015, Corbyn launched his Labour leadership campaign in the same hall at Ruskin House. An interview with his long-standing colleague, Dennis Skinner, re-emerged this week in which the then MP for Bolsover offered his views on his friend’s shortcomings, and also on his ability and integrity.
Authentic: former MP Dennis Skinner
Skinner, the quick-witted and sharp-tongued former coal miner, was MP for Bolsover for 49 years, from 1970 until he retired from the Commons in 2019. He is 94 years old.
“I don’t think Corbyn’s the best leader ever,” said Skinner just ahead of his retirement.
“I appreciate that he’s not the best at appealing to a lot of demographics. He’s crap with soundbytes; not good at speaking straight to camera,” said “the Beast of Bolsover”, the nickname given to him by the right-wing press during his time as an MP.
“[He’s] Better in real situations with real people. I appreciate that he’s not got a great deal of, what would you call it, ‘zing’.
“I don’t agree with him on everything by any means. Still, you know something I know?
“If Labour lose the [2019] election, Jeremy Corbyn will probably go back to being a local MP. He’ll carry on holding speakers up for people at meetings, and helping people with their chairs and thanking people for making the sandwiches.
“He’ll carry on having talks and doing constituency surgeries and attending debates and asking questions and campaigning on various issues and staying behind to carry on talking about stuff with ordinary people after the event’s finished…
“He’s not going to swan off to a career of after-dinner speaking and corporate events and non-executive directorships and consultancies. He’s not going to edit the Evening Standard. It’s not his personal ambition that’s brought him here…
“The fact that this man is considered unelectable when the alternatives are as they are is itself an indictment of our society.”
Tomorrow night’s meeting at Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Rd, Croydon CR0 1BD, is open to the public and is free to attend, though places are limited.
The event is due to begin at 7.30pm. “Arrive early if you want sandwiches, samosas and Gaza Cola.”
Tickets can be reserved on Eventbrite using the QR code on the poster above. It can also be watched online via Zoom.
Expelled by Labour and given a number for Samaritans
In August 2025, Jeremy Corbyn was the guest on the Inside Croydon podcast, The Andrew Fisher Interview, where the former leader of the Labour Party spoke candidly about the “sad” experience of being expelled from the party of which he had been a member for half a century.
Corbyn recounted how David Evans, the then Gen Sec of the Labour Party (and someone with close connections to Croydon politics) had written to him saying, “If you’re upset about this, here’s the number for Samaritans.”
The Andrew Fisher Interview is part of our Under The Flyover podcast strand. Click here to listen to the interview in full (free for paying subscribers)
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: MP Reed, Evans and the Croydon connection
Read more: The Fraud: how Reed’s Labour spied on Croydon councillors
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Dennis Skinner was a great MP, who I met on more than one occasion, but his views on Jeremy Corbyn in 2015 were not well founded at the time, and certainly were not borne out subsequently. Labour with Corbyn as Leader came close to winning the 2017 General Election and secured a higher percentage of votes than in any other General Election since 2001.
Corbyn today stands out as that rare thing – a principled and incorruptible politician who stands for the interests of ordinary people in the UK and worldwide.
Which is pretty much what Skinner said (in 2019).
Yet you chose to highlight “crap” and “not the best”.
Are you saying Skinner didn’t say what Skinner said?
He has never achieved anything in 40 years in parliament
In 2024, Reform split the Tory vote and Starmer’s Labour achieved 2/3 of the seats on only 1/3 of the vote. However, fewer votes were cast for Starmer’s Labour than Corbyn’s Labour received in 2019 (despite Labour’s internal sabotaging operation), and three million fewer votes than Labour received under Corbyn in 2017.
Thus media’s portrayal of Starmer as a “landslide election winner” and dismissing Corbyn as “unelectable” is deliberately disingenuous.
For anyone who doesn’t remember…here are some examples of media portrayals:
‘Keir we go’: what the UK papers say as Labour wins …
The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com › article › 2024 › jul › ke…
5 Jul 2024 — “Keir we go” is the assessment of the Mirror, saying that Starmer and Labour received a “thumping landslide victory”. Friday’s front page: Keir …Read more
‘Change begins’ as Labour PM will ‘fight until you believe …
BBChttps://www.bbc.co.uk › news › articles
5 Jul 2024 — Saturday’s front pages lead on Labour’s landslide victory as Sir Keir Starmer promises to build a “government of service” after becoming the …Read more
‘Keir we go’: What the papers are saying in Britain this …
The Journalhttps://www.thejournal.ie › uk-elections-paper-review-6…
5 Jul 2024 — … win was so definite, there was no confusion this morning: ***. The Daily Mirror features Starmer’s “thumping landslide victory” on its front …Read more
‘The clown show is over’: how the world reacted to Labour’s …
The Timeshttps://www.thetimes.com › World › Europe
5 Jul 2024 — “While a right-wing wind sweeps through Europe, the UK turns to the left,” it said, adding that Starmer’s landslide victory is “the proof the …Read more
General election 2024 endorsements: Sun endorses Labour
Press Gazettehttps://pressgazette.co.uk › publishers › nationals › gen…
4 Jul 2024 — … newspapers to call for a change of government in the 2024 general election … won his first, landslide victory. Daily Record: Labour. Scotland’s …Read more
Keir Starmer’s Labour Party set for landslide win in the UK …
Facebook · The National10+ reactions · 2 years ago
It predicts that the Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, will secure a landslide victory, ending the 14-year rule of the Conservative Party. The …Read more
Newspaper headlines: Big moments from the election
BBChttps://www.bbc.co.uk › news › articles
7 Jul 2024 — Headlines in the West of England have been dominated by the Labour party’s landslide victory over the Conservatives following the general …Read more
U.K. election results: Landslide Labour win ends 14 years …
The Washington Posthttps://www.washingtonpost.com › World › Europe
4 Jul 2024 — 1:13. Keir Starmer, Britain’s Labour leader and incoming prime minister, hailed his party’s landslide victory at a celebratory event in London …Read more
2024 United Kingdom general election
Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › 2024_United_Kingdo…
The opposition Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a landslide victory … Keir Starmer won the Labour Party’s 2020 leadership election, succeeding Jeremy …Read more
Trump hails Farage election success but stays silent on …
The Telegraphhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk › politics › 2024/07/05 › st…
5 Jul 2024 — … landslide victory. The former Democrat presidential candidate viewed the victory of the Left in Britain as a hopeful sign Donald Trump could …Read more
British newspapers that described Jeremy Corbyn as “unelectable” or ran headlines/editorials with that sentiment include:
So are you saying that a 412-seat General Election victory is not a landslide, Peter?
The S*n, Torygraph and Daily Heil will do what they have always done. Remember Michael Foot’s donkey jacket? I’m surprised that you seem surprised.
Permanently bleating that the media’s not being fair to you has not done anything to deliver a socialist government since the 1970s (if that). But so far no one has done anything to follow Tony Benn’s suggestion to establish some kind of independent media.
Certainly the unions have not dipped into their coffers to fund independent news outlets.
PS. The Washington Post isn’t part of the British media. And citing the Press Gazette is a bit feeble, too. Maybe you need to draft better-defined AI instructions next time to try to prove your premise.
I’m just saying that one Labour Party leader, who attracted far fewer votes (one-third), was lauded as a huge success, whereas his predecessor was dismissed as a total failure, despite attracting millions more votes. I think your readers will understand the point I’m making.
It’s difficult to know what point you’re trying to make, Peter, other than the simpering “unfair” at the treatment of Corbyn by the billionaire-owned media. Which was barely different from the treatment of every other Labour leader – with the exception of Murdoch-friendly Blair.
Starmer was hardly “lauded”. Describing the 2024 General Election result is not “lauding” Starmer. It’s a statement of fact.
Corbyn was treated no differently from most Labour leaders. Or indeed, now, Zack Polanski.
Polanski doesn’t simper about it.
Yeah he won. You are celebrating scoring 3 goals when you lost 4-3. Starmer won. Corbyn lost twice. That’s it. That’s all that matters. Stacking votes in safe seats means little if you don’t win in other areas. Lib Dem’s and Green were no where in 2017 and 2019 and reform didn’t exist. Starmer got a low amount of votes but under fptp more than others is all that matters. Corbyn got less than may!