Lionised by the grassroots but at odds with his own MPs, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his first party conference facing deep divisions as he tries to convince Britain he is not too radical to be prime minister.
After wining the leadership last month thanks to rank-and-file members, the left-winger wanted to use the conference to spread his message to the public but faced clashes with sceptical MPs on issues including nuclear weapons and Syria.
”He tried to use this conference as a way of reassuring the world outside that he’s not dangerous,” said Eunice Goes, associate professor of politics at Richmond University, who is writing a book on his predecessor, Ed Miliband.
Ahead of the conference, the Conservative Party of Prime Minister David Cameron described Corbyn as a “threat to our national security”. Corbyn avoided a potentially damaging vote on the future of Britain’s nuclear defence deterrent Trident—to which he is opposed—although deep divisions on the hot-button issue flared up on Wednesday.
The newly-elected leader insisted he would not use nuclear weapons if he became prime minister, adding that they “didn’t do the USA much good on 9/11”.
His own shadow foreign minister Hilary Benn said “any prime minister has to have the option” of using the nuclear deterrent, while the party’s top official for defence, Maria Eagle, said the comment was not helpful.
Corbyn said he would try to resolve such divisions by persuasion, promising to introduce a “new type of politics” that would involve consensual policy making.
”You can see that this is someone with no experience in power and he is realising that he needs to take firm positions,” said Iain Begg, a professor at the London School of Economics.
”He is going through a kind of very quick initiation... It didn’t go too badly with people in the hall and party
members,” he said. “It’s with MPs that he has difficulties.”
Another bone of contention is whether Labour should support Britain joining air strikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria.