Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party i Contemporary British Politics

1 Abstract Bachelor thesis "Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party in Contemporary British Politics" is a case study focusing on two key areas, namely the election of Jeremy Corbyn, and ideological and programmatic changes in party policy since. The first part of this thesis seeks to understand the causes which led to the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader in 2015. It begins by a short overview of 2015 leadership race, followed by a closer analysis of factors influencing the election. Specifically, it aims to identify the main reasons which motivated people to support Corbyn, and the mechanisms and underlying factors which enabled this. The resulting analysis demonstrates that a combination of numerous factors i.e. changes to the election process, influx of new members (many among them left-wing and lower-class), use of technology in the campaign, and personal appeal of Corbyn played a major role in influencing the election. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to examining the impact of his leadership on the ideology and policy of the Labour Party, and what distinguishes Corbyn's Labour from New Labour. Firstly, by analysing the data obtained by the Comparative Manifesto Project, and using the rile index it attempts to assess whether Labour under Corbyn underwent some significant ideological shift...