Ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has dedicated his victory as an independent to the people of his constituency, as he enjoyed sweet success over his former party.
He successfully retained his long-held seat of Islington North in London, beating his Labour rival by more than 7,000 votes.
In his victory speech, he claimed his campaign had shown “what kinder, gentler and more sensible, more inclusive politics, can bring about”.
He said: “I couldn’t be more proud of my constituency than I am tonight and proud of our team that brought this result. Thank you very much Islington North for the result we have achieved tonight.”
He added: “I owe my life and my learning and my abilities entirely to the people of Islington North. This victory is dedicated entirely to them.”
It was just a few days after Rishi Sunak had called the General Election that Mr Corbyn announced he was standing as an independent, vowing to be “an independent voice for equality, democracy and peace”.
He had been suspended by Labour since 2020 after he refused to fully accept the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s findings that the party broke equality law when he was in charge and said antisemitism had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons”.
Speaking to the Islington Tribune, he said he would fight to retain a seat he had represented for 40 years, adding: “We have to stand up and defend our rights.”
It was announced that day that he had been expelled from the party, with Sir Keir Starmer saying Mr Corbyn’s days of influencing Labour were “over”.
Sir Keir had, throughout the campaign, sought to distance himself from his predecessor’s leadership, with his mantra of running “a changed Labour Party” and readiness to suspend MPs if they step out of line with his “zero-tolerance” policy on antisemitism.
First elected to Parliament in 1983 as MP for Islington North, Mr Corbyn rose from rebel backbencher, regularly voting against the party whip, to the shock winner of the party leadership contest amid “Corbynmania” in 2015.
Under his turbulent time as leader, Labour received its biggest election upsurge since 1945 in the 2017 snap general election, before suffering its worst defeat since 1935 in 2019 against Boris Johnson.
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