Jeremy Corbyn: his first 100 days as Labour leader

12 Sept

Mr Corbyn, who had spent 32 years as a backbencher and been a thorn in the side of previous Labour leaders, is elected by a landslide with his end-to-austerity message.

Most Labour MPs do not vote for him, and there is immediate concern that he will find it impossible to lead his party in parliament, with some predicting he will never make it to 100 days.

13 Sept

Mr Corbyn is criticised for handing the top three shadow cabinet jobs to men. John McDonnell, like Mr Corbyn a key figure on Labour’s rebellious left, becomes shadow chancellor. Despite the criticism, there are as many women as men in the shadow cabinet.

15 Sept

Mr Corbyn, a republican, is criticised for failing to sing the national anthem at a Battle of Britain ceremony.

16 Sept

He starts as he means to go on, with a different approach to Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons. His trick: to read questions sent to him by members of the public.

25 Sept

Mr McDonnell says Labour will vote for the government’s fiscal charter.

29 Sept

In his first party conference speech as Labour leader, Mr Corbyn says the government should ditch plans for commercial involvement in the running of Saudi Arabia’s prisons.

30 Sept

Mr Corbyn says he would not use Britain’s nuclear weapons if he became Prime Minister, sparking a row with many members of his shadow cabinet.

13 Oct

The government scraps its Saudi prisons plan, a victory for Mr Corbyn.

14 Oct

After Mr McDonnell’s U-turn on the fiscal charter, 21 Labour MPs vote with the government.

20 Oct

Guardian journalist Seamus Milne is appointed Labour’s head of communications.

8 Nov

In spite of his pacifist leanings, Mr Corbyn bows at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

11 Nov

After weeks of speculation, Mr Corbyn is sworn in as a member of the Privy Council at Buckingham Palace. It is later reported that he kissed the Queen’s hand, but did not kneel in front of her.

One journalist wag commented that while being driven to the Palace, he looked “as if he was on his way to see his bank manager or his dentist”.

13 Nov

Mr Corbyn says he would have preferred it if Islamic State terrorist Jihadi John had been captured rather than killed in a drone strike.

16 Nov

After the Paris attacks, he says he is “not happy” with the concept of shoot-to-kill policing in Britain.

24 Nov

A YouGov /Times poll finds that 66 per cent of Labour members believe Mr Corbyn is doing a good job.

25 Nov

Mr Corbyn achieves a victory for his party when George Osborne scraps plans to cut working tax credits.

29 Nov

He says Labour MPs could be bound by a three-line whip in the forthcoming vote on extending air strikes against IS to Syria, despite his shadow chancellor’s call for a free vote.

30 Nov

Mr Corbyn allows his MPs a free vote. He and most of his party vote against, but 66 Labour MPs, including some members of his top team, back the government, which wins the vote.

3 Dec

Despite talk of a strong Ukip challenge, Labour comfortably holds on to Oldham West in a by-election.

7 Dec

Mr Corbyn quotes Albanian communist dictator Enver Hoxha in a speech at Labour’s Christmas drinks party (following John McDonnell’s flourishing of Mao’s Little Red Book in the Commons a fortnight earlier).

11 Dec

Mr Corbyn attends a fundraising dinner for Stop the War, attracting criticism from some of his MPs.

12 Dec

A ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday finds that 25 per cent of voters believe Mr Corbyn is “turning out to be a good leader of the Labour party”, while 46 per cent disagree.

19 Dec

Almost a third of Labour supporters do not expect Mr Corbyn to be Labour leader at the next election, according to an Opinium/Observer poll.