Britain's Labour Party just elected a leader who draws comparisons to Bernie Sanders
Britain's opposition Labour Party elected outsider Jeremy Corbyn in a shocking upset on Saturday, marking a hard leftward turn for the group, The New York Times reports.
Corbyn, who snagged nearly 60 percent of the vote despite never holding a major party position, has pledged to reverse centrist policies enacted by his predecessors, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The elected leader chalked up his victory to voters fed up with "the inequality, the injustice, the unnecessary poverty" he says the country has endured since Europe's 2008 financial crisis. Corbyn is often compared to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — both socialists are seeing unexpected levels of support as they propose radical solutions to issues like economic inequality.
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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.