Corbyn Too Left-Wing to Pose Threat to Cameron

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — The 66-year-old socialist, who has had a long career as a member of parliament and pacifist campaigner, became the new head of the Labour Party on September 12 with a landslide victory of over 59 percent.

Cameron Sees No Threat in Corbyn

Although Corbyn has already been dubbed a threat of UK national and economic security by David Cameron, the prime minister does not consider the Labour leader to be a serious rival, analysts believe.

"Cameron and the Tories see Corbyn as an unelectable left-wing ideologue who has absolutely no chance of winning the 2020 General Election… Cameron sees Corbyn as far too left-wing to present a threat," Colin Talbot, a professor of government at the University of Manchester, told Sputnik.

The expert added that the appearance of Corbyn on the British political stage could prompt some of the most right-wing Conservatives to move further to the right and pursue more extreme policies. This, in turn, might generate tensions inside the ruling party and may well end up in a split.

"He was elected as someone completely different from the established Labour leadership and from the political establishment in general. However, his distance from mainstream politics means that he is unlikely to influence British politics. Indeed, his leadership may be only a temporary phenomenon," Alan Sked, a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, told Sputnik.

Corbyn has been widely referred to as one of the most "rebellious" members of the British Parliament, as he opposed Britain's participation in the Iraq war, and spoke against the renewal of the British Trident nuclear deterrent program.

Cameron on Thin Ice Calling for Military Action in Syria

However, in some avenues of his policy, Cameron might yet come to feel the stronger voice of the refreshed Labour Party. Particularly, his push to secure parliamentary permission to extend airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group to Syria may fail if those opposed to the action unite.

"If Conservative rebels join up with the SNP [Scottish National Party] and Labour on issues such as military intervention [in Syria], then given the razor thin majority of 12 that might prevent the UK from becoming more involved than it is in Iraq and Syria," Gordon Wilson, who used to be the leader of the SNP party from 1979 to 1990, told Sputnik.

On Monday, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said Cameron’s position on the necessity of taking action against Islamic State militants in Syria remains unchanged.

Colin Talbot also noted that there were sufficient Conservative parliamentarians opposed to the military action on Syria.

"Cameron is unlikely to go for a vote unless he thinks he can win. This may happen if Labour splits on the issue — there are also quite a few Labour MPs who would support action," Talbot said.

Another possible scenario for the vote on bombings in Syria is that right-wing Labour parliamentarians might revolt against Corbyn and support Cameron, Alan Sked said. In that case, Cameron's position in British politics would only be strengthened.

On Wednesday, Jeremy Corbyn engaged with David Cameron for the first time during the weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions. The debate revolved around affordable housing, tax credits and cuts to mental health services.