Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn was last night backed by thousands of people in a rally supporting his leadership of the Labour Party.

%image(15087600, type="article-full", alt="Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks in Parliament Square at the "Keep Corbyn" demonstration. Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire")

Mr Corbyn himself spoke at the rally after a tumultuous couple of days which saw an exodous from his shadow cabinet, as MPs protested against his leadership.

But speaking from the top of a fire engine in Parliament Square, Mr Corbyn’s strong grassroots support was evident.

Making no mention of the alleged coup against him, he said: “Don’t let the media divide us. Don’t let the people who wish us ill divide us. Stay together, strong and united for the kind of world we want to live in.

“Can we all agree we are going to unite together as one people, one society, one community, to oppose racism?

“And the grotesque exploitation of workers on zero hours contracts in factories around Britain shows we don’t need the blame culture, we need the unite culture of working together for the social justice to which we all aspire.”

Organisers claimed 10,000 people turned up last night.