Jeremy Corbyn has strengthened his grip on the Labour party after Scottish members elected a leftwing trade unionist, Richard Leonard, as their seventh leader in the past decade. “Richard’s campaign has offered a challenge to the rigged system that has benefited a wealthy elite and showed how he will lead Scottish Labour to transform society,” Corbyn said. Widely disliked by Sarwar’s supporters, Rowley had backed Leonard’s leadership campaign while serving as interim leader; his daughter Danielle Rowley, a recently elected Labour MP, chaired Leonard’s campaign. Corbyn’s allies in Scottish Labour are nonetheless celebrating a significant victory for the party’s leftwing. Leonard acknowledged his immediate task was reuniting the party after a bruising contest that exposed factional divisions within the Scottish party.

Source: The Guardian November 18, 2017 11:17 UTC