The rise of Jeremy Corbyn represented a new surge in left-wing politics in Britain. His ascent to the top of the Labour Party signified a marked change in the ideological direction of the party, particularly in contrast to New Labour. Although there was a consensus that this represented a new vitality in left-wing politics in Britain, what this vitality meant in a substantive sense is the subject of this chapter. Put differently, what ideas made up Corbynism? While it is unfair and inaccurate to ascribe to one person a new ideological resurgence, this new development could plausibly be described as Corbynism. It is common to label such movements by their figurehead; the same is true for Thatcherism and the New Right in the 1980s, and Blairism and New Labour in the 1990s. Moreover, in this instance, the “rise of the left in the party is not necessarily ideas driven, rather it focuses on the individual – that's Jeremy,” remarked a new intake Labour MP.

A close friend and ally of Corbyn described how the public saw “Jeremy as someone who is authentic, speaks his mind, he doesn't change his principles and says what he means. Jeremy is a thoroughly, thoroughly decent individual”. No MP that was interviewed, even those hostile to Corbyn's project, disputed or contradicted this claim. If there was any animosity towards the leader within the PLP, it was rarely based on an individual dislike of the man. Instead, it was based on what he ideologically represented. Despite this, it is incredibly difficult to answer and pinpoint exactly what Corbynism consisted of in terms of ideas and whether those ideas represented something new to the Labour Party or was a rehash, as many claimed, of ‘Old’ Labour ideals. This difficulty still arose despite being told by a Labour MP and ally of Corbyn that Corbynism was not “rocket science”. Indeed, it is not, thankfully. However, this MP aptly highlighted the difficulty for people to discern the details of Corbynism with the statement that it simply meant a change in the direction of the Labour Party “to support the many and not the few”. The ambiguity over what was Corbynism was furthered by Corbyn (2015) at the party conference, following his leadership victory: ‘I am not a leader who wants impose leadership lines all the time.