If there is one political story of 2017 to shadow that of Theresa May's downfall, from a strong majority to a weakened minority government after a minute of madness snatch for power at the decision of a snap election, it would be the underdog tale of a untrusted , disputed opposition party leader. The rise of Jeremy Corbyn.
After being elected as leader of the largest opposition party in september of 2015, then facing a vote of no confidence in early 2016, then being raucously re-elected later that year it was true that many avid followers of politics see Corbyn as a joke of sorts. We accepted that Theresa May called this snap election as a way to grab power at what she and her cabinet and advisors saw as a weak labour party, that would be wiped out at an election, many saw aspects of dis-unity and fragmentation within the party. They were right. The media tried to play on these thoughts, but each day Corbyn closed the gap in the polls between May and himself. This was due to many reasons: more equal media portrayal (in my opinion); Corbyn's policies; Corbyn's ability to campaign.
In my opinion the portrayal of the major political parties was shared very evenly from day to day news on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 etc to the various leader's debates and head to heads. There had been increasingly anti-corbyn and anti-labour sentiment for some time since he received his elected premiership of the Labour Party, obviously this continued, but Corbyn's success for his party was eased by the fact that the media attacked the Conservatives and May, and the Liberal Democrats and Farron alike. The fact that this media portrayal was evened out allowed voters to see all sides to the parties that were up for election and contention, therefore allowing labour to appeal to more voters than ever before.
Corbyn's and the Labour Party's policies and manifesto awakened many people, especially younger people and younger voters into becoming involved in politics. With manifesto pledges such as nationalising the transport industry and abolishing tuition fees, Corbyn and Labour were appealing to a wide audience. His policies therefore led to an increased votership.
Furthermore all his political and activist life Corbyn had done one thing throughout it all, campaign. Theresa May was ridiculous to not realise that Corbyn was a far more seasoned campaigner than herself and therefore he had an advantage coming into an election climate that was against him. Combine this with his genius use of social media to attract the masses of most generations on Facebook to the younger snapchatting generations that could follow him intimately whilst he and other senior labour politicians were hard at work on the campaign trail. In my opinion Corbyn;s great skill and ability to campaign was the reason that he was so successful in the campaign.
Yes, i appreciate that Theresa May is the largest party in the United Kingdom's Parliament, but this election was a loss and a grave mistake for her and her party, compared to the dramatic increase in House Of Commons seats that the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn received.
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