“Though there have now been a number of books published about Jeremy Corbyn’s election as the leader of the Labour Party, including Richard Seymour’s impressive Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics (reviewed in PN 2596-2597), The Candidate is arguably the definitive account of those exciting days.

As the political correspondent of Red Pepper magazine, Alex Nunns is perfectly placed to chart Corbyn’s 2015 leadership campaign, writing a detailed, journalistic and engrossing account. He ends with a short afterword about the 2016 coup attempt and second leadership election – in which, amazingly, Corbyn increased his vote share to 62 percent.

All this feels a long way from Labour’s defeat in the May 2015 general election. With the Labour left believing itself to be in an extremely weak position – journalist Owen Jones didn’t think the left should run a candidate because they would likely be ‘crushed’ – Corbyn’s candidacy was initially given 200-1 odds by Ladbrokes, the bookmakers. However, as Nunns explains, three large political forces came together to create the mass movement Corbyn rode to victory: the shift to the left by Labour Party members; the trade unions’ rejection of New Labour; and grassroots campaigners like the anti-war movement and Occupy.”

Get the full story here.

Telling the story of how Corbyn won is important. When you’re involved in a big political struggle, if you understand its history then you’re much more able to navigate it successfully. I hope my account can help people enthused by Corbyn to understand the terrain they’re fighting on, as well as explain events to some of those who have so far simply dismissed Corbynism as some kind of aberration.

Read the full article here.

“After that little lot the season of not enough goodwill and too little peace may require a bit of cheer-me-up. The Candidate by Alex Nunns should do precisely that for the convinced Corbynite with an account in riveting detail of Jeremy Corbyn’s rise to power which reads more like a thriller than a chronicle, and that’s a compliment by the way!”

Read the full article here.

The telling of the tale as much as the tale itself is also the key to The Candidate by Alex Nunns, the story of the improbably election of Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of the Labour Party – the first time.

​It is a political thriller which has, unsurprisingly, received little attention from the mainstream media, which emerges with about as much credit as the majority of Labour MPs and the party administration. To read this book is to become intimately acquainted not solely with the factionalism on right and left which has plagued the party, but also with the larger picture: what is the Labour Party? What’s the point of it in a post-Brexit world?

Read the full article here.

HOW did Jeremy Corbyn win, that Saturday 15 months ago? On the back of a remarkable campaign and the collapse of Labour’s right, yes, but how? And why?

An answer is needed, not only for the Labour left and those who see it as the best bet but also for those otherwise uninterested in the party’s fortunes and eyeing up an alternative route to socialism.

It is important because a good answer will hold up a mirror to the left and to the social forces that have landed us in this situation and light up the paths we can take from here. The Candidate provides such a thoughtful response.

Alex Nunns isn’t the first to have a go — Richard Seymour’s Corbyn book springs to mind — but he shuns prophecy for a study of the moving parts. That’s not to knock Seymour, whose book is worth reading, but his analysis exists in the service of a particular argument.
The Candidate is altogether different. Nunns looks in detail at the factors that combined to create the conditions for, and propel us toward, Corbyn’s victory and lays out the evidence for study.

A good example is the Collins review of Labour’s internal elections. Nunns does an eye-opening job of digging into what the review meant practically — changes that perhaps seemed marginal at the time but with careful analysis and a bit of hindsight now appear central.
That’s the depth but Nunns doesn’t spare the breadth. Collins appears again in a knowledgable chapter on the trade unions, where the starting point is Ed Miliband’s win, traced through the union drive for worker-friendly candidates for the 2015 general election and the fabricated scandal in Falkirk — the “High Noon” of Unite’s showdown with Progress, as Martin Mayer comments.

And, as a delicious digestif, there’s a page of “critical praise” for the Collins review from top Blairites. Nunns is not just perceptive but frequently funny.

There are more immediately practical lessons too, such as the tactics adopted by the Corbyn campaign, what worked and what failed — not something I’d normally be drawn to but Nunns kept me with him throughout.

It’s hard to do The Candidate justice. If you want to know how and why Corbyn won, read this book. There’s no preaching, no fawning, just a clear-sighted and enjoyable exploration of where we are and how we got here.

It’s up to us to use this knowledge to decide where we go next.

Read the full article here.

about serious redistribution of wealth. If they were, they’d have to give up their very nice houses, private schools for their kids, and so on. If you ask them about racism or gay rights or feminism, they probably would tick all those boxes. The self-righteousness of that group, who are very present at the moment behind Hillary, those who are telling people you’ve got to vote—it feels like a kind of moral injunction from people who have done fine as a result of globalization. Their lives, if anything, have improved. I can understand the working, lower-middle class of America. Globalization has really wrecked their communities and dashed the hopes of their children of owning houses, or getting well-paid, secure jobs, or even having libraries, or community centers, or nice shopping streets. All across America those things are gone. I can understand when they hear someone like Leonardo DiCaprio saying, You’ve got to vote! they’re like, Fuck you, it’s fine for you. Don’t simultaneously take the moral high ground and lead this lifestyle that is extremely comfortable for you but isn’t for us. I can see why that drives people nuts. It’s in large part what Trump’s supporters are angry about: that combination of a rather smug, well-off, professional middle class person preaching about how tolerant we all have to be.

Read the full article here.

“This is a fascinating account of why—as well as how—Jeremy became leader of the Labour Party and transformed our politics. For anyone engaged in this movement, understanding precisely how we came to be where we are can only make us more effective as we go forward. That’s why Alex Nunns’ book is so important.”

—John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Listen to the full interview on Newstalk Radio here.

Listen to the full interview on Talk radio here.

Listen to the full interview from Doug Henwood’s Behind the News on KPFA here.

“What Alex Nunns has achieved with ‘The Candidate’ is remarkable. It’s the real, inside story of the campaign to elect Jeremy Corbyn, from the ground up. It’s as if someone has followed the participants with a video camera throughout, carefully detailing the important moments. But it’s more than that: it bears all the hallmarks of someone who genuinely understands the decisive forces that made up the Corbyn moment. And Nunns communicates all this expertly. The book reads like a political thriller, and even though we all know the ending, it’s nevertheless an enormously exciting read. As the book gives Red Labour it’s rightful place in this bit of history, we’re also delighted to recommend it to the Red Labourite family. What’s not to like?”

Read the full statement here.

“Well-written, clear and analytically sharp.” – James Meadway, economic advisor to John McDonnell, on THE CANDIDATE

“It’s all over bar the shouting – although shouting there will be”: ALEX NUNNS talks to RT about the unlikely rise of Jeremy Corbyn.

“It’s all over bar the shouting – although shouting there will be. Jeremy Corbyn won an even bigger landslide victory at the Labour Party conference, despite 240,000 people being deprived of their votes for one reason or another. And who could have imagined that in just a few months he would’ve built the biggest political party in Europe? How did it happen?”

Listen to the full interview on RT here.

Watch the book trailer here.