A recent poll in the UK has socialist Jeremy Corbyn 32 points ahead of his closest rival for the Labour leadership post, up from a 17-point lead three weeks ago.
Report by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer, Common Dreams.

NEW POLLING in the UK shows longtime left-wing lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn, a leading anti-war and anti-austerity voice in the UK, surging toward victory in his quest to become leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party.

Or, as Stephen Bush put it Tuesday at the New Statesman,

"Is there anyone now who honestly believes that Jeremy Corbyn isn't on course to win the Labour leadership election?"

A YouGov poll conducted for London's Sunday Times has Corbyn 32 points ahead of his closest rival, up from a 17-point lead three weeks ago.

Corbyn, 66, has sparked an enthusiasm in the UK that has garnered comparisons to Podemos in Spain, Syriza in Greece, and the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders in the U.S.

As Guardian columnist and associate editor Seumas Milne wrote earlier this month

'He has pushed an anti-austerity agenda into the heart of political debate, forced his rivals to halt their shift to the right, and brought tens of thousands of young people into active politics.'

Mosler on why Corbynomics is the way forward and austerity a dead-end.

MP John McDonnell, chair of the socialist campaign group of Labour MPs, wrote at the Guardian on Tuesday:

'Where the Corbyn campaign parts company with the dominant economic thinking of both the Conservative government and the other Labour leadership candidates is that we don’t believe that the vast majority of middle- and low-income earners who didn’t cause the economic crisis should have to pay for it through cuts in tax credits, pay freezes, and cuts in essential services.'

McDonnell continued,

'Instead, we believe we can tackle the deficit by halting the tax cuts to the very rich and to corporations, by making sure they pay their taxes, and by investing in the housing and infrastructure a modern country needs to get people back to work in good jobs.'

Such "Corbynomics" have led establishment politicians and media to downplay or outright dismiss Corbyn's candidacy. Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former spokesperson, haswarned Labour risks "driving itself off a cliff" if Corbyn is elected.

Voting opens Friday, by mail or online, and continues for about a month. Dues-paying party members are eligible to cast ballots, along with members of affiliated organizations and anyone who wants to pay a £3 ($4.70) fee. The results of the contest will be announced September 12.

Alastair Campbell warned Labour risks driving itself off a cliff under #Corbyn; where as unlike with Blair, they just pushed it off a cliff
— Ed DeCesare (@EdDeCesare) August 11, 2015

The rise of #Corbynomics is no joke – we must nip it in the bud http://t.co/M6i295M0uZ pic.twitter.com/V2L2zJqBDu
— MoneyWeek (@MoneyWeek) August 10, 2015

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Also see earlier article:

'Anti-Austerity Candidate Corbyn: Tony Blair Could Face War Crimes'

MP Jeremy Corbyn says Iraq war illegal, Blair must divulge details of 2002 meetings with George W. Bush by Andrea Germanos, staff writer 5 August 2015.

Extract:

Labour leadership hopeful Jeremy Corbyn, a left-wing MP who's leading the polls, said that former Prime Minister Tony Blair could possibly face war crimes for his involvement in the Iraq war.

The long-time MP, whom the Guardian's Ewen MacAskill characterized as "the anti-austerity candidate, in tune with similar movements in Greece and elsewhere in Europe," made the comments Tuesday In an interview with BBC2's Newsnight. Corbyn told interviewer Emily Maitlis:

"I think there are some decisions that Tony Blair has got to confess or tell us what actually happened in Crawford, Texas in 2002 in his private meetings with George Bush,"

Read the full story here.

@Independent With John Howard under one arm and GW Bush under the other!
— Ann Payer (@AnnPayer) August 5, 2015

"Boo Hoo. If #Corbyn is elected he'll send me to trial for war crimes", essentially. http://t.co/6j5IeLD0x5 pic.twitter.com/IJHIoUlwcf
— Steven Endersby (@SGEndersby) August 12, 2015

The main story was originally published in Common Dreams on 11/8/15 and has been republished under a Creative Commons licence.