The election Sept. 12 of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party is not only disastrous for the Labour Party but also, by entrenching the Conservative Party in government, a threat to the health of parliamentary democracy in Britain.
Following the Conservatives' success in the general election in May and the failure of Labour to persuade the electorate to support the policies, which it advocated, Edward Miliband, the party's leader, resigned. The party failed not because there was general enthusiasm for the Conservatives, but to a significant extent because the electorate did not trust Labour to run the economy.
The process of electing a new leader has been long drawn out and was complicated by new rules, sponsored by Miliband, that gave votes to registered supporters.