JEREMY CORBYN has won a decisive victory as leader of Britain’s opposition Labor Party after he fended off a challenge from Owen Smith in a nationwide membership vote.

    Corbyn won 61.8 percent of the votes of more than half a million party members and affiliated supporters. The results were announced Saturday in Liverpool, where the party is gathering for its annual conference.

    But even though grass-roots activists gave Corbyn a resounding stamp of approval, Labor’s troubles are far from over as it struggles to convince more centrist voters it can win power.

    Corbyn referred to the partisan struggle that has split his party in recent months as he appealed for unity.

    “As far as I’m concerned, let’s wipe the slate clean from today and get on with the work we’ve got to do as a party together,” he said.

    Responding to the result, the governing Conservative Party said: “No one should be celebrating this victory. The policies that Labor are offering will do nothing for people who want a government that will deliver for them.”

    The U.K.’s main opposition party has been plagued by bitter infighting since party members elected the 67-year-old Corbyn as leader following Labor’s defeat in the May 2015 general election.

    As a backbencher, the Parliament member for Islington North in London was known for his refusal to follow the party whip and for his left-wing, pro-trade union, anti-Iraq War views.

    As leader, he wants to renationalize utility companies and make Britain non-nuclear. He considers the NATO military alliance outdated and aggressive.

    These views, the majority of Labor lawmakers believe, make the party unelectable in a general election as Corbyn would be unable to win over centrist voters, especially on defense issues.

    Corbyn’s leadership was thrown into doubt in July following mass resignations from the shadow Cabinet and the loss of a confidence vote by 172-40 from the Parliamentary Labor Party.

    Another Parliament member, Angela Eagle, first challenged him, but she then stood down for Smith, a little known member of Parliament from Wales.

    Many Labor Party members in and out of Parliament believe that Corbyn did not campaign hard enough in the June referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union.

    In the past he had been anti-EU but changed tack to support the Remain campaign. The vote to exit the EU caused deep divisions in British society, and Corbyn’s failure to rally Labor supporters around the EU flag left a bitter taste in the mouth of many pro-European Labor lawmakers. (SD-Agencies)