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Jeremy Corbyn Fiery Syrian Refugee Rally. FULL SPEECH at Parliament Square After Elected

12 September 2015

Jeremy Corbyn addresses Parliament Square refugee rally

Jeremy Corbyn said he was “shocked beyond appalled” over some media coverage about refugees.

In his one of his first speeches since being elected Labour leader on Saturday, he addressed a rally about rights for refugees held in Parliament Square, Westminster.

He claimed “a lot of politicians had rediscovered their principles, their principles of humanity” over the refugees arriving in Europe in recent weeks.

Mr Corbyn called on people to open their hearts, minds and attitudes “towards people who are desperate“.

Jeremy Corbyn has promised to lead a Labour “fight back” after being elected the party’s new leader by a landslide.

The veteran left winger got almost 60% of more than 400,000 votes cast, trouncing his rivals Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall.

He immediately faced an exodus of shadow cabinet members – but senior figures including Ed Miliband urged the party’s MPs to get behind him.

Mr Corbyn was a 200-1 outsider when the three month contest began.

But he was swept to victory on a wave of enthusiasm for his anti-austerity message and promise to scrap Britain’s nuclear weapons and renationalise the railways and major utilities.

He told BBC News he had been a “bit surprised” by the scale of his victory but his campaign had showed “politics can change and we have changed it”.

He will now select his shadow cabinet – but without a string of existing members including Ms Cooper, Tristram Hunt and Rachel Reeves – who have all ruled themselves out.

He has also hinted that he wants to change the format of Prime Minister’s Questions – he faces David Cameron across the despatch box for the first time on Wednesday – suggesting other Labour MPs might get a turn.

The Islington North MP won on the first round of voting in the leadership contest, taking 251,417 of the 422,664 votes cast – against 19% for Mr Burnham, 17% for Ms Cooper and 4.5% for Ms Kendall. Former minister and Gordon Brown ally Tom Watson was elected deputy leader.

Corbyn supporters chanted “Jez we did” as he took to the stage, putting on his glasses to deliver his acceptance speech.

The leftwinger, who has spent his entire 32 year career in the Commons on the backbenches, promised to fight for a more tolerant and inclusive Britain – and to tackle “grotesque levels of inequality in our society“.

He said the leadership campaign “showed our party and our movement, passionate, democratic, diverse, united and absolutely determined in our quest for a decent and better society that is possible for all”.

“They are fed up with the inequality, the injustice, the unnecessary poverty. All those issues have brought people in, in a spirit of hope and optimism.”

He said his campaign had given the lie to claims that young Britons were apathetic about politics, showing instead that they were “a very political generation that were turned off by the way in which politics was being conducted – we have to, and must, change that”.

Mr Corbyn added: “The fightback now of our party gathers speed and gathers pace.”

His first act as leader was to attend a “Refugees Welcome Here” rally, joining tens of thousands of people marching through central London in support of the rights of refugees.

Addressing cheering crowds in Parliament Square, he delivered an impassioned plea to the government to recognise its legal obligations to refugees from Syria and elsewhere and to find “peaceful solutions to the world’s problems”.

“Open your your hearts. Open your minds, open your attitude to suffering people, who are desperate and who are in need of somewhere safe to live,” added the new Labour leader.

Singer Billy Bragg then led the crowd in a rendition of socialist anthem The Red Flag.

Mr Corbyn earlier told supporters his first day at the helm of his party in Parliament would be spent opposing government plans to “shackle” trade unions by imposing higher thresholds for strike ballots.

By Luke James in Britain:

Corbyn Blows Apart PM Bid to Bomb Syria

Friday 27th October 2015

DAVID CAMERON’S bid to bomb Syria was frustrated yesterday as MPs pulled apart the Prime Minister’s claims that air strikes would be legal, effective or make Britain safer.

Mr Cameron hoped to secure a parliamentary majority in favour of bombing by personally making the case in a Commons statement.

But Mr Cameron held back from calling a snap vote after facing tough questions from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, as well as senior Tories.

Wide-ranging concerns raised by MPs from all parties could see the PM face a repeat of 2013, when Labour and progressive MPs united with Tory rebels to block bombing in Syria.

The PM had suggested a vote could be called as soon as Monday when he said earlier this week that MPs should “consider it (bombing) over the weekend.”

Downing Street sources were cautious after yesterday’s debate, insisting: “We’re not putting a timetable on a vote.”

And Mr Cameron told MPs: “Let me be clear — there will not be a vote in this House unless there is a clear majority for action, because we will not hand a publicity coup to Isis (Islamic State).”

With Parliament sitting for just 16 more days before the Christmas break, he is running out of time to call a vote.

Mr Cameron argued Britain’s intervention was legal on the grounds of self-defence and claimed the RAF’s capabilities could reduce civilian casualties.

…

The PM insisted he had “learned the lessons of previous conflicts,” but added that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose army is the main ground force engaged in fighting Isis, would not be part of the solution.

But Mr Corbyn raised fears that bombing could trigger “unintended consequences” that would put Britain at more risk of attacks and further destabilise Syria.

He said: “The question must now be whether extending the UK bombing from Iraq to Syria is likely to reduce or increase that threat and whether it will counter or spread the terror campaign Isis is waging in the Middle East.”

Labour veteran Paul Flynn went further, warning bombing would boost Isis and “escalate a regional war into a world war between Christians and Muslims.”

Dennis Skinner also ordered Mr Cameron to “keep out” of the “crazy war,” while only a handful of Blairites suggested they would break the Labour whip to back bombing.

Labour’s shadow cabinet met to consider the party’s position yesterday afternoon and will meet again on Monday.

Within the Tory ranks, Mr Cameron was boosted by the support of Crispin Blunt, the foreign affairs select committee chairman who voted against bombing in 2013.

But defence select committee chairman Julian Lewis was among senior Tory backbenchers who were sceptical of Mr Cameron’s plan.

Mr Lewis expressed disbelief at Mr Cameron’s claim that there were 70,000 Free Syrian Army soldiers which Britain could support with air strikes. US general Lloyd Austin estimated the number of “moderate” rebels in Syria as “four or five.”

European governments plan intensified military intervention in Syria: here.

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