Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing Islington MP, has been elected to the leadership of the Labour Party in the first round of voting with 59.5 percent of the vote.

Just as remarkably, the hard Blairite candidate admired by the right-wing media, Liz Kendall, won a mere 4.5 percent. Labour now has its most left-wing leader since George Lansbury in the 1930s.

This is far better than anything we could have anticipated. In Corbyn’s first speech as leader, he hit all the left notes. He welcomed new members, as well as old members driven away by Blairism. He bashed the Tories’ anti-union laws, stood up for welfare, attacked the Murdoch empire, and defended refugees. His first act as leader was to join the pro-refugee march in central London, to a rapturous welcome.