Labour party leader speaks to thousands in Parliament Square voicing their support in face of parliamentary challenge

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Thousands of supporters of Jeremy Corbyn piled into Parliament Square in London to express support for him in the face of the leadership challenge.

They shouted, cheered, booed and beat drums to make themselves heard at a fractious parliamentary Labour party (PLP) meeting taking place across the road at Westminster.

After the PLP meeting, Corbyn crossed the road to address the rally. He did not directly speak about the challenge being mounted against him, other than to call vaguely for respect for one another and stress the need for unity.

He said the Labour members learned from one another through shared values and tolerance. “That is where unity comes from and that is what makes us strong,” he said.

The rally was organised by the grassroots organisation Momentum set up last year to back Corbyn.

The organisers initially put the turnout at 4,000 but later claimed that police had put the crowd at 10,000. The rally offered a taste of what Labour MPs hostile towards him can expect when they return to their constituency parties.

Chanting “Corbyn In, Tories Out”, they booed those MPs who had resigned from the shadow cabinet or publicly expressed criticism of him, singling out Hilary Benn, Margaret Hodge and Tristram Hunt.

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Speakers came from the unions and the small band of MPs backing him, including Dennis Skinner, Diane Abbot and Richard Burgon. Skinner said it was one of the biggest rallies he had seen for years.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, one of the founders of Momentum, said: “Let me make it clear Jeremy Corbyn is not resigning … If there is another leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn will stand again”

The rally was held at 24 hours’ notice. Among those attending, Labour and Momentum member Neil McKeown, 35, a sound designer originally from Glasgow and now living in London, said he was convinced Corbyn would win another leadership contest.

“I think he has the support of the vast majority of the membership. I think the behaviour of the parliamentary Labour party has been disgraceful,”McKeown said.

“It is not just stabbing him in the back. It is stabbing everyone in the back.”