- .Veteran left-winger trounces rival Owen Smith in leadership contest
- .Corbyn secured 61.8% of the vote, more than the 59.5% last year
- .Allies have threatened efforts to deselect rebel MPs in constituencies
- .Corbyn demands MPs fall into line and respect his renewed mandate
- .Turnout was 77% with over half a million activists casting ballots
Jeremy Corbyn demanded rebel MPs fall into line today after securing another crushing victory in the leadership contest.
The veteran left-winger played down the prospect of concessions to bring the deeply divided party back together - instead insisting critics had to respect the fact he had received 61.8 per cent of the vote.
It is his second massive win in little more than 12 months - thanks to the influx of hundreds of thousands of fanatical supporters.
Jeremy Corbyn has insisted he wants to 'wipe the slate clean' after the outcome of the Labour leadership battle was announced
Mr Corbyn, pictured right, secured another huge win in the Labour leadership contest, winning 61.8 per cent of the votes
The triumph is set to trigger a vicious round of score-settling by Mr Corbyn and his allies as they tighten their grip on Labour. There have already been open threats to deselect rebel ringleaders.
In his victory speech in Liverpool Mr Corbyn said he wanted to bring the party together.
'Let's wipe the slate clean from today and get on with the work we have got to do as a party together,' he said.
He also sought to distance him from a wave of anti-Semitism and abuse that has been condemned by rebels, saying such behaviour was 'not my way'.
But in broadcast interviews later Mr Corbyn struck a markedly less conciliatory tone.
Asked how he was going to heal tensions, he referred to the 313,000 votes he received from Labour activists.
'It is considerably more than I got a year ago,' he said. 'We should recognise that.'
More than 500,000 activists voted in the leadership battle between Mr Corbyn and challenger Owen Smith
Mr Corbyn used his victory speech to condemn abuse and anti-semitism within the party
Shrugging off the all-out coup by more than 170 MPs, he added: 'There was a challenge, I was invited to resign. I declined to resign.'
Moderates are now pinning their hopes on a crunch meeting of the ruling NEC this evening where they will demand powers to elect the shadow cabinet.
That would potentially allow some of the senior figures who have quit in protest at Mr Corbyn's incompetence to return to the frontbench with dignity.
But Mr Corbyn said only that the issue was being 'discussed' - and suggested he wanted instead to give activists more say over policies and appointments.
Extraordinarily, Mr Corbyn also chose to highlight two local council by-election results as evidence that the party's popularity was growing.
Turnout for the election was higher than last time, with more than 77 per cent of the 654,000 eligible voters - made up of party members, trade union members and registered supporters - having cast ballots.
He improved on the 59.5 per cent of the vote he received in the contest last September.
Even though there are only two candidates this time around, increasing his victory margin would lay down a significant marker about the strength of his mandate.
Sources on his team are convinced many people will simply return to his shadow cabinet. 'Some of the names will surprise you,' a source said.
But many more have told Mr Corbyn they will never work for him again – leaving him struggling to appoint a full team to hold the Government to account at Westminster.
The announcement was made at the Labour conference venue in Liverpool today
The hard-Left veteran is set to be confirmed as Labour's leader on Saturday for the second time in 12 months, following a bitter contest against rival Owen Smith
Labour insiders suggest that fewer than a third of the 60-plus MPs who quit Mr Corbyn's team have agreed to return.
In his speech, Mr Corbyn pleaded with his party to ‘work together for a real change in Britain’ and insisted he believed he could go onto the next election and win.
The re-elected Labour leader invoked the memory of Jo Cox to tell activists in Liverpool that there among the ‘Labour family’ there was ‘more in common than divides us’.
And he urged all sides of the party to come together against Theresa May’s Government, which he said was ‘David Cameron’s government with a hard edge wrapped in progressive slogans’.
Mr Corbyn paid tribute to volunteers on both sides of the Labour leadership election and said they were the ‘lifeblood’ of the party.
‘I will do everything I can to repay the trust and the support, to bring our party together, to make it an engine of progress for our country and the people that depend on the Labour Party to protect their interests, to win power, to make change in this country,' he said.
Mr Corbyn said it was ‘essential’ for Labour to disagree openly and debate policy and said debate had helped draw people into the party – making it the largest political party in Western Europe.
He said: ‘We have almost tripled our membership since last spring. Those new members are part of a nationwide movement that can take our message into every community in the country, to win support for the election of a Labour government.’
Mr Corbyn invited all members of the party to join him on a national campaign day against grammar schools next Saturday, the eve of Mrs May’s first Tory conference as leader.
Some MPs who have been heavily critical of Mr Corbyn - including Copeland MP Jamie Reed - have pointedly stayed away from the announcement today
Tory former Cabinet minister Sir Eric Pickles summed up the feeling of many in his party by welcoming the veteran left-winger's reelection
The Labour leader said Mrs May was ‘dithering’ in the face of the ‘historic challenges of Brexit’ – despite being condemned by many on his own side for demanding immediate invocation of article 50 in the hours after the EU referendum.
He said: ‘If you believe that education is better than segregation, that we need an NHS that isn’t threatened with breakdown and loaded with debt, that older people deserve dignity and the care they need in their own home, that we have a duty as a country to refugees to promote peace rather than conflict.
‘If like me you believe it’s a scandal that here in Britain, the sixth biggest economy in the world, four million children are in poverty, six million workers are paid less than the living wage.
‘And if like me you believe we can do things far better, then help us build support for a genuine alternative that will invest in our future, a more prosperous future, in which the wealth we all create is shared more equally.’
The build up to today’s event was dominated by escalating fears about intimidation and harassment as MPs warned they would bring bodyguards with them amid repeated death threats.
Party staff have been given advice and access to an emergency hotline in the event of violence on the party conference fringes.
Mr Corbyn today said: ‘Politics is demeaned corroded by intimidation and abuse. It’s not my way and it’s not the Labour way and it never will be.’
Mr Corbyn admitted there were things said on ‘all sides’ in the heat of debate that were regretted later.
He said: ‘But always remember in our party we have much more in common than divides us.
Mr Corbyn said it was the responsibility of MPs to work together and 'respect the democratic choice that has been made'
‘Let us wipe the slate clean today and get on with the work we have got to do as a party together.’
In a stark warning to the Labour rebels, Mr Corbyn said: ‘My responsibility as Labour Leader is to unite this party at conference this week in Parliament and in every community around the country.
'But it’s also the responsibility of the whole party: members of parliament, councillors, members and supporters across the country to work together and respect the democratic choice that’s been made.
'Labour is a party brimming full of ideas of talent and creativity and so is Britain.
'Unleashing that potential is the job of all of us. Let’s work together for real change.'
Labour's parliamentary candidate in Guildford resigned from the party following the result
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell denied Mr Corbyn had set the ‘dogs’ on MPs opposed to him.
‘All we want now is unity and stability,’ he told the BBC.
Mr McDonnell insisted there was no threat of ‘mandatory re-selection’ and said rules used where boundaries changes would stay the same.
The close ally of the leader said he had not wanted the second leadership contest despite the enhanced mandate.
He said: ‘I would rather we had not done it – it’s distracted us for three months when we should have been in the face of the Tories as a strong opposition.’
Mr McDonnell claimed former front benchers had already approached the leadership team about coming back to the front line – and even insisted hard line opponents such as Hilary Benn would be welcomed back.
Defeated contender Mr Smith - who has ruled out serving under Mr Corbyn - said: ‘I entered this race because I didn’t think Jeremy was providing the leadership we needed, and because I felt we must renew our party to win back the voters' trust and respect.
Mr Corbyn won a higher proportion of the vote than Tony Blair in 1994 - although he secured fewer votes in total
'However, I fully accept and respect the result and I will reflect carefully on it and on what role I might play in future to help Labour win again for the British people.'
He said it 'falls primarily' to Mr Corbyn to 'heal those divisions and to unite our movement'.
'We have to turn round our dire opinion poll ratings and take on this right wing, failing Tory Government. Jeremy has won this contest. He now has to win the country and he will have my support in trying to do so,' he added.
Some MPs yesterday said they were already planning another leadership challenge next year – the earliest possible opportunity under Labour's rules.
One former minister said: 'The result looks like it it's going to be disappointing, but we will just keep going until we get rid of him.'
Many are also considering other ways to 'serve' the party from the backbenches, such as by starting think-tanks or campaigning on key issues.
The scale of Labour's problems was underlined yesterday with a poll showing that half of 2015 Labour voters who backed Brexit have now abandoned the party.
The YouGov research for The Times suggested 52 per cent they had either shifted to other parties or were not sure what way they would vote in future.
The figure is equivalent to around 1.7million of Labour voters from the last general election.
An army of seats had been reserved for Mr Corbyn and his staff in the conference hall
Mr Corbyn will staff outside the venue in Liverpool. His allies are preparing to tighten their grip on the party after the result
Half of the 2015 Labour voters who backed Brexit have now abandoned the party, according to a YouGov poll
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