Corbyn Bites Back - Was His Debate Decision The Killer Move Labour Need?

Graham Pierrepoint

Anyone remotely interested in UK politics will likely know that there’s a fairly big snap election coming up on Friday, June 8th – and it will decide whether or not Prime Minister Theresa May and the Conservative Party will hold onto government until 2022 at least – or if Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, amongst a sea of other contenders, will challenge their supremacy. It’s long been thought that the Conservatives were looking at a landslide this time around – but after a number of policy u-turns and unpopular decisions made by May and the Conservatives over the past few weeks, Labour have managed to tighten the gap in the polls. For a man who has been battling the mass media and even his own party for the good part of nearly two years, it appears that Corbyn may finally have seized upon the chance to threaten the government’s majority in the UK.

While it is still largely thought that Corbyn’s largely left-wing manifesto may alienate much of the electorate, his most recent public appearances have been hailed by those he intends to speak to the most – and, this week, he pulled a rather surprise trick out of the bag when he announced that he would be attending a BBC Party leaders’ debate on prime time TV – a debate that Theresa May had backed out of previously, and that Corbyn had only changed his mind on hours before.

It’s been claimed as a brave move and one that has surprised just about everyone – at the time of writing, Corbyn is yet to head out on stage – but he will likely lock horns with Amber Rudd MP – representing in May’s absence – and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron MP. May’s response to Corbyn’s decision came as she advised she would be continuing to canvass and meet people up and down the country as opposed to taking part in the televised debate.

Corbyn’s popularity appears to be picking up at a very late stage in the election, and it is thought that anything short of the majority Theresa May was aiming for will be considered a failure for the Conservatives. Can Labour pull off an upset and give the governing party a shock? It’s shaping up to be a very exciting election run, and it will all come to a head on Friday, June 8th.