Jeremy Corbyn was labelled a “divisive” politician who is “very bitter and jealous of richer people”, as a focus group gave the Labour leadership front-runner short shrift last night.
Yvette Cooper emerged as the surprise favourite, deemed “positive” and “addressing the issues with working-class people” among the Newsnight/Ipsos Mori focus group. She was compared to Margaret Thatcher in terms of strength. However, she was accused by one panel member of “dumbing herself down” to avoid drawing attention to her economic background and her husband, Ed Balls, the former shadow chancellor.
Mr Corbyn’s economic policies, which include “people’s quantitative easing” — that is, asking the Bank of England to print money to pay for infrastructure projects — have been backed by left-wing economists, but sparked controversy elsewhere. His policies on inequality drew negative responses from the participants. “Sounds like he’s going to take off the rich . . . But why should he be able to do that?”
Another panellist said they “agreed” with his economic ideas, but added: “I don’t think as a country we can afford his principles.” Another lauded him as a “very good politician” but added that he was “unelectable as prime minister”.
The participants did not share the enthusiasm for Mr Corbyn shown by party activists. One focus group member said: “He just seems quite divisive and he’s just going to kind of bitch and moan, to be honest, about everything else.” Another dismissed him as a grey-haired “hippy” .
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Andy Burnham provoked an array of sentiments. One participant felt he was touting “the same message [Labour] were trying to portray right up to the election”, while another praised him as “quite credible”. He was seen as “strongish” and not “wishy washy”.
The participants heaped censure on Liz Kendall, the centrist candidate, labelling her “quite boring”.
Six people in Nuneaton and eight from Croydon, all Labour voters aged between 30 and 50, took part in the focus group in the past ten days. The findings follow research suggesting that Mr Corbyn’s supporters are united by a shared outlook on life.
Polling of 3,777 Labour party members by YouGov found that one in four of those backing the MP believes that the world is run by a “secretive elite”. Just over half of them see America as the single biggest threat to world peace.
The findings will do little to dispel fears in the parliamentary Labour party that the surge in new members will drag the party to the left.
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One of Mr Corbyn’s most loyal supporters, the MP Diane Abbott, issued a thinly veiled warning to colleagues uneasy about his ascent. “I think that the noisiest members of the parliamentary Labour party will have to calm down if and when Jeremy is elected,” she told the Total Politics website. She said the party would “never forgive people who deliberately undermine someone who has been elected under the most democratic system the Labour party has ever seen.”
The leadership contest has been marred by claims of entryism because of changes brought in by Ed Miliband. One of his closest advisers, Tom Baldwin, has insisted Mr Miliband is not to blame for the “mess” the contest has been. He said that opponents of Mr Corbyn should learn from the way he has galvanised like-minded people.