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Jeremy Corbyn tells journalists in Labour victory speech: Leave my family alone

The Labour leader says his family has suffered abuse at the hands of the media

Jon Stone
Saturday 12 September 2015 19:17 BST
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Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn (PA)

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The new Labour leader has warned the press not to harass his family as he goes about his work.

Jeremy Corbyn thanked his relatives for their support during the leadership contest and said they had been subjected to “abuse” because of his success.

“They’ve been through the most appalling levels of abuse from some parts of our media. It’s been intrusive, it’s been abuses, it’s been simply wrong,” he told members in his acceptance speech.

“I say to journalists: attack public political figures, that’s ok, that’s what politics is about. But please don’t attack people who didn’t ask to be put in the limelight, leave them alone, leave them alone in all circumstances.”

During the leadership campaign Mr Corbyn was subjected to intense scrutiny in the media, with allegations about people who he had potentially associated with dominating a week of the campaign.

Early in the leadership contest former frontrunner and Streatham MP Chukka Umunna pulled out, citing media intrusion into his family life.

Mr Corbyn was elected as Labour leader to succeed Ed Miliband on a landslide, gaining 59.5 per cent of the vote.

The result was compared to 19 per cent for Andy Burnham, 17 per cent for Yvette Cooper and 4.5 per cent for Liz Kendall.

Despite only gaining the bare minimum of nominations from MPs to get on the ballot paper, the new leader of the opposition proved very popular with members, registered supporters, and affiliated trade unionists.

He now faces the daunting task of leading a party whose establishment was dead-set against his victory and who warned that he could destroy the party.

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