Dan Roberts correctly identifies the similarities between the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn (Ridiculed, reviled, resurgent … Is Corbyn’s campaign beginning to #feeltheBern?, G2, 31 May) but does not speculate on possible post-election parallels. Despite the surge of support and enthusiasm, the chances are that Labour is unlikely to prevent a Conservative majority.
The real question is whether the result is close enough for Corbyn to not only remain as leader, but to parlay the “loss” into the kind of success Sanders has enjoyed since his presidential run. The truth is that, while the polls suggested that Sanders would be president now had he won the Democratic nomination, his popularity has sky-rocketed in the six months since the election.
One is tempted to attribute Bernie’s post-election ascendancy to a sense of what might have been among the US population, which has now internalised the mantra of “$10 an hour, single payer, free college” etc, even while seeing Trump seeking to legislate in exactly the opposite direction.
A closer-than-expected result in the UK might yield a similar result for Corbyn. If Theresa May’s ambiguity over Brexit combines with the worst elements of her manifesto in a newly elected government, could a near-miss actually focus voters’ minds and turn out to be the best result the left could have hoped for?
Tahir Latif
Southsea, Hampshire
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