Jeremy Corbyn is pushing to recruit more volunteers for his campaign to defeat Labour in his Islington North constituency, i can reveal.
The former Labour leader believes he is “neck and neck” with his old party and thinks he can win the seat if he mobilises 400 activists a day across the north London seat.
The intervention came on the day Keir Starmer launched Labour’s general election manifesto after admitting during a live TV grilling that he knew Labour would lose the 2019 poll under then party leader Mr Corbyn.
Mr Corbyn has been the MP for Islington North since 1983, but was banned from standing as Labour’s candidate in this general election after he was accused of downplaying the seriousness of the antisemitism crisis which erupted under his leadership.
There have been no formal surveys of the constituency, making it difficult to predict whether he will successfully leverage his high profile to surpass Labour despite the party’s strong position in national opinion polls.
A source on the Corbyn campaign said: “Our early canvass returns show it’s pretty much neck and neck here between Jeremy as the independent candidate and the Labour candidate. The other parties are miles behind.
“According to our data and projections, if enough supporters of Jeremy and his politics join the campaign and knock on doors, we will win. But there is a real risk of the Labour candidate sneaking a victory if supporters stay at home on the assumption that Jeremy can win without them.
“While we’ve had good numbers so far, we need more volunteer power to compete with Labour’s resources.”
It is understood that last Sunday around 200 volunteers were working on the campaign, canvassing voters to drum up support for Mr Corbyn. He wants to double that to 400 a day on weekdays and more than that on the weekends.
Labour has selected a local councillor and entrepreneur, Praful Nargund, as its candidate in the constituency. He has kept a low media profile and focussed on on-the-ground campaigning, including with former leader Neil Kinnock who visited the area last week.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Labour is back in the service of working people, and the residents of Islington North now have the chance to elect Praful Nargund – a talented, local, Labour candidate – so they can be part of the change that we’re offering the country.”
A number of other left-wingers are standing against the party, including outgoing MP Claudia Webbe in Leicester East and Faiza Shaheen, who was banned from being a Labour candidate at the last minute, in Chingford and Woodford Green.
Those without the high name recognition of Mr Corbyn are considered highly unlikely to be successful in their bids to become independent MPs.
At the last general election in 2019, a number of former ministers who had been expelled from Labour or the Conservatives – including David Gauke, Dominic Grieve and Frank Field – vied to be re-elected against their old party, but none of them won or even came within 10,000 votes of success.
The last time any MPs were elected at a general election without having the backing of an established party was 2005, when three de facto independent candidates won their seats.
Election 2024
The general election campaign has finished and polling day has seen the Labour Party romp to an impressive win over Rishi Sunak‘s Tories.
Sir Keir Starmer and other party leaders have battled to win votes over six weeks, and i‘s election live blog covered every result as it happened. Tory big beasts from Penny Mordaunt to Grant Shapps saw big losses, while Jeremy Corbyn secured the win in Islington North.
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK also outdid expectations with four MPs elected.
But what happens next as Labour win? Follow the i‘s coverage of Starmer’s next moves as the new Prime Minister.
