Jeremy Corbyn, now official British Labour leader candidate

This 26 July 2010 video from Britain says about itself:

Jeremy Corbyn MP – Stop the War Coalition – Afghanistan Time to GO!

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Tuesday 16th June 2015

Late push secures Corbyn ’s place in the race but his team urges social media socialists to make their support count

THE SOCIAL media socialists who helped Jeremy Corbyn into the race for Labour leader must sign up as party supporters and vote for the left candidate.

That was the call from the Corbyn campaign team after the Islington MP secured his place on the ballot paper at the 11th hour yesterday.

Mr Corbyn doubled his number of nominations in a single day, leaping from 18 supporters to 36.

The late rush of support, which left him just five nominations behind Blairite candidate Liz Kendall, came after cyber campaigners piled pressure on MPs over the weekend.

Speaking moments after reaching the total, Mr Corbyn paid tribute to the grassroots campaign.

“I am on the ballot paper as a result of the massive campaign by Labour Party members and supporters across the country urging MPs to vote for democracy,” he said.

An energetic online campaign in support of Mr Corbyn saw his 19,000-strong Facebook group dwarf that of rivals Andy Burnham, Yvetter Cooper or Ms Kendall.

By now, there are 22.832 ‘likes’ at the Jeremy Corbyn for Labour Leader Facebook page.

Activists sent hundreds of emails and letters to Labour MPs calling on them to nominate Mr Corbyn and ensure a broad debate about the party’s future.

More than 7,500 people also signed a Change.org petition demanding Mr Corbyn’s inclusion.

Now Mr Corbyn’s team has called on the cyber campaigners to sign up as supporters and ensure “all this energy and power is translated into votes.”

Changes to Labour’s structure made by former leader Ed Miliband last year mean people who do not want to join the party as full members can join as “registered supporters” for £3.

Members of affiliated trade unions sign up as “affiliated supporters” for the same price.

And now Mr Corbyn is on the ballot paper, the new one member, one vote system means supporters will have as much of a say over the leadership as any MP.

Campaign for Labour Party Democracy spokesman Jon Lansman, who supports Mr Corbyn, said they could have a “profound effect” on the result.

He told the Star: “I think we will see lots of people joining up to back Jeremy.

“There are an awful lot of people out there who have been disillusioned for years, who maybe used to be members of the party who will rejoin in some way.”

Countless people have already responded to the call on Mr Corbyn’s Facebook page.

Sheila Coombes wrote: “Have never been a member of a political party, but have just joined solely to get Jeremy Corbyn in as Labour leader.”

Steve Kimberly added: “Just signed up as a supporter. At last there’s a chink of light for the party that I have despaired for these last many years since I resigned my membership.”

The deadline for joining as a registered or affiliated supporter in order to vote is noon on August 12.

Bookmakers have slashed the odds on Mr Corbyn becoming leader, which are now as short as 14/1.

By comedian Frankie Boyle today:

Jeremy Corbyn did scrape together enough nominations to stand, causing the left of the party to get quite excited that it is still allowed to lose. One of the few decent politicians remaining in the Labour party, he reminds me of those old drinkers you see haunting a new bar because they used to go to the pub that was there before.

Much of the contest so far has involved the candidates fretting about how the party can be more pro-business. It is not even clear what they mean by this word “business”. Are they worried about small businesses that care about being able to borrow money; manufacturing businesses that care about high growth; transnational businesses that care about you taking your tax bill and shoving it up your arse; or the banking business, which doesn’t care whether anybody lives or dies but would like a lot of hot Russian mafia money to flash about the dying nervous system of the finance industry as though we’re treating Aids with cocaine? Obviously, those are all interests that sometimes oppose each other in various ways. I’m reduced to imagining that “pro-business” is simply a rhetorical code for “rightwing”, and that we are watching leadership contenders wonder aloud whether they are being rightwing enough.