[UK News] Will Jeremy Corbyn cling on? U.K. opposition decides

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Will Jeremy Corbyn cling on? U.K. opposition decides
from USA Today

Amid the fallout from Britain's decision to leave the European Union, a political storm is brewing over who will take charge of the opposition Labour Party.

Jeremy Corbyn, the embattled, far-left renegade who was elected leader in September 2015, is likely to triumph over rival Owen Smith when the vote is announced at the party's conference in Liverpool on Saturday.

The leadership election was sparked by party members unhappy with Corbyn's leadership and his handling of the campaign this past spring to remain in the EU.

Although Corbyn is bookmakers' favorite to win the party race, his chances of leading Labour to oust the ruling Conservatives from power in a general election in four years appear slim.

Corbyn "has almost no chance whatsoever" of triumphing in 2020, said Matthew Goodwin, professor of politics and international relations at the University of Kent. "He is the most unpopular opposition leader in postwar history and is lagging well behind Prime Minister Theresa May in public ratings of their leadership qualities and economic competence."

A poll by market research form Ipsos MORI last month said 58% of respondents were dissatisfied with Corbyn as Labour leader.

Adrian Pabst, another Kent academic, said one of Corbyn's first moves if re-elected will be to try and put together a shadow cabinet — an alternative to that of the Conservatives — but most Labour members of Parliament won't serve under him.

Pabst predicted that Corbyn will try to amend the party's leadership election rules so that a far-left candidate will always be on the ballot, and "will try to recruit even more militants to entrench his position."

"What all this signifies is that Corbyn will stick to his politics of protest," Pabst said. "Far from reaching out to the whole country and positioning himself as a credible alternative PM to Theresa May, he will further alienate the electorate."

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair called Corbyn "the guy with the placard" after he opposed U.K. airstrikes in Syria and attended nuclear disarmament rallies after becoming party leader.