On Wednesday 15^th May this year I wrote what I thought were the reasons Labour lost the general election. I said that despite what Tony Blair said, Labour didn’t lose because it was not left wing enough, it lost because it lacked authenticity.

As I wrote about a need for integrity within the party, its senior figures queued up to criticise and blame their former leader Ed Miliband.

Front runner to replace Miliband, Chukka Ammuna threw his boomerang into the ring and as a group of well-known figures ruled themselves out of the leadership race for a couple of days he looked the most likely to succeed. I’m fairly sure at this point that very few people had heard of Jeremy Corbyn MP. Ammuna quickly decided that leadership from the front was not for him and siting the intrusion of the press as his reasons he quickly withdrew from the race.

I have no evidence to prove it but I strongly suspect that the Labour elite, those at the very top of policy making and decision making had decided the party needed to move further right. I believe it was this intention that led them to put the name of Corbyn forward. If he had failed to get the nominations necessary to get on the ballot paper the party would have a clear mandate to say the members had a left wing candidate and ignored him. That was the turning point. Instead of failing to get the nominations Corbyn got on the ballot with minutes to spair, relying on favours to get him on the card. Even then, most expected him to be annihilated.

During the general election campaign I noticed and wrote about a shift in opinion of the public, who had tired of the bickering and back biting of politicians leading to a surge in green party membership, due to the party’s refusal to be dragged into the sniping.

Now, with Corbyn on the card, the previously disillusioned, disengaged public had an anti-establishment figure to pin their hopes on. As story’s surfaced of Corbyn’s previous rebellion and refusal to follow the whip, support for him grew. I think many people wanted Jeremy Corbyn to win the leadership election because they wanted the established contestants to lose. The more the right wing press and Tory television channels attacked Corbyn, the more support he seemed to gain, selling out appearances and mobilising thousands of supporters. By the time the results of the leadership election were announced on Saturday lunchtime bookmakers were tipping a convincing victory for Jeremy Corbyn.

I said in May that Labour needed a leader that we the voters could believe and believe in. The landslide victory Corbyn enjoyed in the first round, taking 60% of the vote, suggests that he is that man.

Immediately after his victory several Blairite Labour MPs refused to be in his shadow cabinet, others who had little chance of being invited to it criticised and talked of overthrowing him. They really don’t learn!

The public wants a politics where fairness and decency are key. If the best man (or woman) wins, we expect him/ her to be magnanimous in victory and those who lose are expected to hold their head high and congratulate the victor. It is not acceptable to say we don’t accept the will of the people. The whole point of democracy demands that we the voters, get to choose. If our vote is for the leader then good, we should celebrate the victory briefly then move on to the job that was on the table.

In the Scottish referendum a year ago, the SNP vitalised the electorate and engaged young people in politics that suddenly had an audible voice. No longer was the word of a couple of middle aged men in Westminster enough. People on low pay, in rubbish jobs on poor estates, working class people woke up the realisation that they had a voice. Sadly, this contributed to Labours defeat – almost entirely wiping out the party’s representation North of the border. It was said that Labour were finished in Scotland and would be unelectable in England for decades.

The momentum gained during the leadership campaign even saw people in Scotland saying they would consider returning to Labour if he won.

Since his victory the BBC, terrified of being punished by their Tory Generals have continued their shameless attacks on Corbyn. The majority of the written press has gone along with it leaping on any little fault they can find. The paper’s who have for years slated the Royals, were horrified when Jeremy failed to sing the national anthem.

They talked for days of whether he would refuse to kiss the queen’s hand or refuse to bow to her trying relentlessly to turn the people on him. In reality few care whether he sings the song that even fewer actually know the words to these days. Had he sung the anthem the same newspaper men would have called him a hypocrite.

Arguably, he was a tad rude to not sing-along but the authenticity and believability I spoke of required that he did what he has done for years, stuck to his principles. The people in this country, even the young, quite like principles.

Even the most vocal of Corbyn supporters is reluctant to claim he can be prime minister but what he can do is return the party to its roots and engage a generation. The student movement, the community branches and the left wingers have been looking for someone to relate to for decades. Normal people don’t talk the language of Westminster. They don’t dress like Westminster and they don’t think like Westminster. Normal people talk in everyday language and relate to people who speak in their tongue. They want to be told the truth in language they understand. They don’t trust men and women who are so polished that any mud skids straight off them leaving not  a mark. They don’t trust the propaganda offered by the Murdoch rags or posh sneering millionaires in the cabinet talking about hardworking families.

Labour now has the opportunity to engage young, old, experienced and inexperienced; to ask the members who have signed up in their droves what they want from their party. Now is the chance for

normal, grass roots writers and thinkers to tell their story, for the doorstep activists to say this is the kind of country I want to live in, this is the kind of community I want to belong to.

It is time for those in power at the top of the Labour party to say what do you think public? It is time for newspaper barons to say what do you think public? politicians are elected to represent the people who voted for them, not the businesses they hope to become directors of. Newspapers are supposed to report the news, not make it. The days of middle class, middle aged white men dominating the country are gone. The electorate gave Jeremy Corbyn a clear mandate to challenge the authority of the establishment. The establishment of Westminster, the establishment of the Labour party, the establishment of CLP’s and wards is there to be challenged.

If you build it they will come! Those thousands of new members signed up to have their voice heard and if they are allowed to express their desires they will stay. If they are ignored and over ruled they will turn their backs on the party once more and the sooner some members of parliament realise that the better.

Newly elected deputy leader, Tom Watson promised to “rebuild our party from the grass roots up, with councillors and members at the heart of our movement”. He called for a digital revolution that helps members shape policy and campaign priorities. He is right. It is no longer realistic or acceptable to allow elderly out dated men and women who don’t even have internet access to set the agenda. MPs need to make themselves accessible on social network sights such as twitter and Facebook, like many local councillors already are. By accessible I mean indulging in interaction, not simply employing someone to run their accounts but debating and discussing with members of both their own party and others. They need to win votes from UKIP and the Tories not just secure the support they already have. They need to be visible and touchable, reachable open to suggestion and held to account.

Dinosaurs like Lord Mandelson should support the democratically elected leader of their party or shut up and go away. The man has been in place for less than a month give him a chance. Give the normal people a chance.