Assessing the Performance of UK Opposition Leaders: Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘Straight Talking, Honest Politics’

Abstract

This article contributes to a burgeoning literature on political leadership, offering an interim assessment of Jeremy Corbyn's tenure as leader of the UK Labour party. At the time of writing, the candidate of the party's Left had been leader for a mere seven months. Media commentators and pundits have been critical of Corbyn's platform and performance, gleefully predicting his imminent demise. On the other hand, the 'Corbynistas' who swelled Labour's ranks in the aftermath of the 2015 defeat have remained steadfast and committed supporters. Their hope is not only that Labour will win the next election, but that Corbyn can recast the landscape of British politics by challenging the economic and political establishment which has assented to the growth of inequality and austerity.

The British Labour Party and leadership election mandate(s) of Jeremy Corbyn: patterns of opinion and opposition within the parliamentary Labour Party

“…Upon acquiring the party leadership, assessments on Corbyn's performance and prospects as party leader have been overwhelmingly critical (see Crines, 2015, Richards, 2016, Diamond, 2016, Bale, 2016), although academic assessment will now be adjusted to reflect the stronger than expected performance in the 2017 General Election, when the Labour vote increased from 9.3 to 12.8 million (30.4 to 40 percent) and they gained seats (229 to 262), despite still winning fewer seats than the Conservatives. However, what has been absent from the academic literature to date is a detailed exploration of the relationship between Corbynelected at the behest of the membership and the PLP.…”

“…However, the Stark criteria appears to be invalidated by the election of Corbyn. As a habitual rebel across a range of policy issues over many decades, any attempt to demand loyalty to him from his parliamentary colleagues will look hypocritical, whilst his electability and competence have also been widely questioned (Diamond 2016).…”

Exploring populist styles of political discourse in Twitter

“…Minister. Corbyn has also been described elsewhere as a populist, although his performance has a markedly different style (Breeze, 2019;Diamond, 2016). The present study was operationalised in two stages: an initial corpus-based procedure in which I quantified various features that might potentially distinguish populist from non-populist tweets;…”

“…Although Johnson has sporadically exhibited marked populist tendencies in other areas of communication (Schoor, 2020), his tweets in the period 2017–2018 were rather moderate, probably because he (or his press team) was cultivating a statesman‐like voice befitting his role as Foreign Minister. Corbyn has also been described elsewhere as a populist, although his performance has a markedly different style (Breeze, 2019; Diamond, 2016). The present study was operationalised in two stages: an initial corpus‐based procedure in which I quantified various features that might potentially distinguish populist from non‐populist tweets; and a second stage based on a qualitative reading of the tweets, in which I identified particular recurring stylistic features that seemed to be particularly characteristic of Farage's tweets.…”

Performative and ideological populism: The case of charismatic leaders on Twitter

“…Unlike Trump, Jeremy Corbyn is not known for his extravagant lifestyle but instead for his lifelong left-wing activism (Diamond, 2016). Arguably, this ‘credential’ may bring Corbyn closer to the neglected and left-behind he claims to stand with, but it is not ‘Corbyn, the street activist or dissident backbencher’ who needs to pass as authentic embodiment of the mission of moral vindication.…”