Corbyn on top again as supporters surge up British left power list

Jeremy Corbyn was today named the most influential person on the British left as a new ranking showed a surge in figures from Labour’s left.

Corbin held his position at the top following Labour’s better-than-expected general election performance and is joined in the top 10 by a group of core political allies and aides.

The panel, which decides the list, is convened by commentator and former Conservative parliamentary candidate Iain Dale alongside a supporter of Corbyn, a backer of Tony Blair and a national newspaper journalist. This the 10th year the list has been produced.

Corbyn comes it at number one, followed by London mayor Sadiq Khan; shadow chancellor John McDonnell; Corbyn’s director of communications and strategy, Seumas Milne; and head of Corbyn’s office Karie Murphy.

Other notable names include Corbyn’s director of policy and one of the key people behind the June manifesto, Andrew Fisher, who is number 10 on the list; shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry who is number 12 and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott who comes in at number 14.

A number of new names on the list, all of whom are broadly supporters of Corbyn, include writer Ellie Mae O’Hagan, Faiza Shaheen from CLASS, the union-backed think tank, grime artist Stormzy, former Corbyn spokesperson Matt Zarb-Cousin, The Canary’s Kerry-Anne Mendoza, Matt Turner from Evolve Politics, co founder of Novara Media Aaron Bastani and Emma Rees from Momentum

Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary who has seen his profile soar, was number 13.

The pace of change in Labour is shown by the fact that in 2008 Labour prime minister Gordon Brown came in at number one, but of the other 99 people included, 84 of them are not featured on the this year’s list.

Journalist Rachel Shabi has moved up the most places from 90 last year to 30 today.

Revealed: The left’s top 100 power list