43 Facts About Corbyn

1. Corbyn has won the Parliamentary "Beard of the Year Award" a record six times, as well as being named as the Beard Liberation Front's Beard of the Year, having previously described his beard as "a form of dissent" against New Labour.

2. Corbyn is an avid "drain spotter" and has photographed decorative drain and manhole covers throughout the country.

3. Corbyn is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling.

4. Corbyn missed his youngest son's birth as he was lecturing NUPE members at the same hospital.

5. Jeremy Corbyn went to Papua New Guinea, from where he travelled with the body to Australia, where his brother's wife and children were staying.

6. Corbyn had a brief relationship with Diane Abbott and went on a motorbike tour of East Germany with her, after his marriage to Chapman ended.

7. In 1988, Jeremy Corbyn was one of the first Members of Parliament to raise the issue of Saddam Hussein's Halabja chemical attack against the Kurdish people, at a time when Hussein was still an ally of the west.

8. Corbyn shared support for Chavez's successor, President Nicolas Maduro, in 2014 while congratulating him on his presidency.

9. Corbyn is a longtime supporter of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, which campaigns against the US embargo against Cuba and supports the Cuban Revolution.

10. Corbyn has constantly called for the British Government to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia to show that Britain wants a peace process in Yemen, "not an invasion by Saudi Arabia".

11. Corbyn has criticised Britain's close ties with Saudi Arabia and British involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.

12. In 2006, Jeremy Corbyn signed a petition calling for the lifting of the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which it referred to as the "supposedly terrorist Tamil Tigers", stating that "the Sri Lanka government is carrying out an undeclared war against the Tamil people who have been struggling for more than two decades for the legitimate right to self-rule" and calling for an end to aerial bombardment by the Sri Lankan government.

13. In 2012 and again in 2017, Corbyn called for an investigation into Israeli influence in British politics.

14. Corbyn is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, campaigning against conflict in Gaza and what the organisation considers to be "apartheid in Israel".

15. In May 2012, Corbyn authored a piece in the Morning Star titled "High time for an end to NATO" where he described the organisation as an "instrument of cold war manipulation".

16. In 2018, Corbyn said his main reason for not committing to remaining in the single market was freedom from EU rules on state aid to industry.

17. Corbyn opposed the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, opposed the Lisbon Treaty in 2008, and backed a proposed referendum on British withdrawal from the European Union in 2011.

18. In 1985, Corbyn voted against the Anglo-Irish Agreement, saying that it strengthened the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and he opposed it as he wished to see a united Ireland.

19. Corbyn would seek to reduce an estimated £93 billion that companies receive in tax relief.

20. Corbyn has campaigned against Private Finance Initiative schemes, supported a higher rate of income tax for the wealthiest in society, and his shadow chancellor proposed the introduction of a £10 per hour living wage.

21. Corbyn sacked three Shadow Cabinet members and a fourth resigned after they rebelled against party orders to abstain on a motion aimed at keeping the UK in the EU single market, which was put forward by Labour MP Chuka Umunna.

22. Corbyn said he welcomed Prime Minister Theresa May's proposal to seek an early general election in 2017.

23. In January 2017, Corbyn announced that he would impose a three-line whip to force Labour MPs in favour of triggering Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union to initiate the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.

24. Corbyn said the train was "ram-packed" and used this to support his policy to reverse the 1990s privatisation of the railways of Great Britain.

25. On 16 August 2016, Corbyn released a video of himself sitting on the floor of a Virgin Trains East Coast train while travelling to a leadership hustings in Gateshead.

26. Corbyn was encouraged to resign by Tom Watson and senior Labour politicians including his predecessor, Ed Miliband.

27. Corbyn replaced Shadow Europe Minister Pat McFadden with Pat Glass.

28. On 6 January 2016, Corbyn replaced Shadow Culture Secretary Michael Dugher with Shadow Defence Secretary Maria Eagle.

29. Corbyn warned against "external intervention" in Syria but told delegates that Labour would "consider the proposals the Government brings forward".

30. In October 2015, Corbyn appointed the Guardian journalist Seumas Milne as the Labour Party's Executive Director of Strategy and Communications.

31. Corbyn confirmed to his local newspaper, The Islington Tribune, that he would stand in the election on a "clear anti-austerity platform".

32. Corbyn was one of 16 signatories to an open letter to Ed Miliband in January 2015 calling for Labour to make a commitment to opposing further austerity, to take rail franchises back into public ownership, and to strengthen collective bargaining arrangements.

33. Corbyn was chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Chagos Islands, chair of the APPG on Mexico, Vice-Chair of the APPG on Latin America and vice-chair of the APPG on Human Rights.

34. In 2006, Corbyn was one of 12 Labour MPs to support Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for a parliamentary inquiry into the Iraq War.

35. Corbyn was given a medallion at the end of the strike by the miners in recognition of his help.

36. In 1983, Corbyn spoke out on a "no socialism without gay liberation" platform and continued to campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

37. Corbyn was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the constituency of Islington North, in February 1982, winning the final ballot by 39 votes against 35 for GLC councillor Paul Boateng, who become one of the first three Black British MPs.

38. Corbyn became the local Labour Party's agent and organiser, and had responsibility for the 1979 general election campaign in Hornsey.

39. When Corbyn was seven years old, the family moved to Pave Lane in Shropshire, where his father bought Yew Tree Manor, a 17th-century country house which was once part of the Duke of Sutherland's Lilleshall estate.

40. Corbyn was the national chair of the Stop the War Coalition from 2011 to 2015.

41. Corbyn began his career as a representative for various trade unions.

42. Corbyn was first elected Member of Parliament for Islington North in 1983.

43. Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician serving as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition since 2015.