This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/21/jeremy-corbyn-buckingham-palace-xi-jinping

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Jeremy Corbyn’s rebel status is framed stylishly by his stiff clothes Jeremy Corbyn’s white-tie get-up is straight outta Downton
(35 minutes later)
Jeremy Corbyn in white tie looks like a character straight out of the Edwardian age. It’s the white beard that does it. Pictured walking smartly past a row of oil paintings at last night’s Buckingham Palace banquet for China’s president, Xi Jinping, Corbyn resembles a figure from a painting by John Singer Sargent, the supremely stylish recorder of high society before the first world war. Who is this distinguished and wiry man resplendent in court dress? Is it Bulstrode of the Foreign Office who organised that jolly standoff with the Kaiser in east Africa? Or diamond magnate Edgar Sponge?Jeremy Corbyn in white tie looks like a character straight out of the Edwardian age. It’s the white beard that does it. Pictured walking smartly past a row of oil paintings at last night’s Buckingham Palace banquet for China’s president, Xi Jinping, Corbyn resembles a figure from a painting by John Singer Sargent, the supremely stylish recorder of high society before the first world war. Who is this distinguished and wiry man resplendent in court dress? Is it Bulstrode of the Foreign Office who organised that jolly standoff with the Kaiser in east Africa? Or diamond magnate Edgar Sponge?
Related: Who is Jeremy Corbyn? Chinese daily analyses Xi Jinping meeting with Labour leaderRelated: Who is Jeremy Corbyn? Chinese daily analyses Xi Jinping meeting with Labour leader
No, it is the firebrand socialist leader who only recently refused to sing God Save the Queen but has suddenly accepted the rules of dress that give all men of power the proper mask of position. In the cigar room they stood up to applaud. There were tears on David Cameron’s face.No, it is the firebrand socialist leader who only recently refused to sing God Save the Queen but has suddenly accepted the rules of dress that give all men of power the proper mask of position. In the cigar room they stood up to applaud. There were tears on David Cameron’s face.
The prime minister could so easily have made another pig joke, with thanks to George Orwell: “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”The prime minister could so easily have made another pig joke, with thanks to George Orwell: “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
Do these images of a man in white tie show the moment that Jeremy Corbyn joined the porcine elite? Public fascination with Corbyn’s appearance is the very opposite result of the policies-not-personalities era he hoped to bring about. The man who wanted to reject the politics of surface has made the media obsessed with his surface. Sky News and the Daily Telegraph seemed awestruck by the sight of Corbyn in white tie. What a marvellous moment for British snobbery.Do these images of a man in white tie show the moment that Jeremy Corbyn joined the porcine elite? Public fascination with Corbyn’s appearance is the very opposite result of the policies-not-personalities era he hoped to bring about. The man who wanted to reject the politics of surface has made the media obsessed with his surface. Sky News and the Daily Telegraph seemed awestruck by the sight of Corbyn in white tie. What a marvellous moment for British snobbery.
After all, the final season of Downton Abbey is in full swing. Only a nation utterly deranged about the minutiae of class-conscious dress and manners could have managed to sit through six series of this tosh. The correct wine to serve with soup and the proper way to address a duchess are literally the most interesting revelations in a fictional world whose internal consistency and conviction fell apart at about the time Lady Mary shagged a Turkish diplomat to death.After all, the final season of Downton Abbey is in full swing. Only a nation utterly deranged about the minutiae of class-conscious dress and manners could have managed to sit through six series of this tosh. The correct wine to serve with soup and the proper way to address a duchess are literally the most interesting revelations in a fictional world whose internal consistency and conviction fell apart at about the time Lady Mary shagged a Turkish diplomat to death.
Jeremy Corbyn’s immaculate appearance in splendid court dress is the kind of conversion from rough diamond to pillar of the social order that Downton delights in. There is a close analogy. Corbyn is a keen supporter of Irish republicanism. So was an angry Irish chauffeur who ended up marrying Lady Sybil in Downton Abbey. But the English class system worked its charms on this dangerous radical. Quick as a flash he gave up burning down stately homes to run the Downton estate – and wear white tie when appropriate. Will Corbyn become ever more comfortable in posh clothes at elite occasions? Will he reconsider his damned awkward vegetarianism too, and try that tempting lobster at the next banquet? How about some brandy with his cigar, and now let’s discuss that missile contract…Jeremy Corbyn’s immaculate appearance in splendid court dress is the kind of conversion from rough diamond to pillar of the social order that Downton delights in. There is a close analogy. Corbyn is a keen supporter of Irish republicanism. So was an angry Irish chauffeur who ended up marrying Lady Sybil in Downton Abbey. But the English class system worked its charms on this dangerous radical. Quick as a flash he gave up burning down stately homes to run the Downton estate – and wear white tie when appropriate. Will Corbyn become ever more comfortable in posh clothes at elite occasions? Will he reconsider his damned awkward vegetarianism too, and try that tempting lobster at the next banquet? How about some brandy with his cigar, and now let’s discuss that missile contract…
At least these pictures of Jeremy Corbyn, aristocratic socialite, prove the people advising him have a good sense of humour. Ideologues? Fanatics? No, the Corbyn inner circle are plainly in it for laughs. What a great joke, after all the shock and outrage at his failure to sing the national anthem and reluctance to kneel before the Queen, to have him show up for the cameras at the palace in this almost parodic extreme of formal dress. And to be fair, by playing along, Corbyn secured a one-to-one meeting with Xi Jinping at which he raised the issue of human rights in China.At least these pictures of Jeremy Corbyn, aristocratic socialite, prove the people advising him have a good sense of humour. Ideologues? Fanatics? No, the Corbyn inner circle are plainly in it for laughs. What a great joke, after all the shock and outrage at his failure to sing the national anthem and reluctance to kneel before the Queen, to have him show up for the cameras at the palace in this almost parodic extreme of formal dress. And to be fair, by playing along, Corbyn secured a one-to-one meeting with Xi Jinping at which he raised the issue of human rights in China.
Related: Corbyn has 'cordial' exchange with Xi over China's rights recordRelated: Corbyn has 'cordial' exchange with Xi over China's rights record
Yet the image he presents at the palace in white tie is not conformist so much as surreal. John Singer Sargent’s portraits of Edwardian politicians and plutocrats reek of conspiracy and vice. His painting of Conservative leader Arthur James Balfour in the National Portrait Gallery is a study of louche charisma, the sensuality of power.Yet the image he presents at the palace in white tie is not conformist so much as surreal. John Singer Sargent’s portraits of Edwardian politicians and plutocrats reek of conspiracy and vice. His painting of Conservative leader Arthur James Balfour in the National Portrait Gallery is a study of louche charisma, the sensuality of power.
Corbyn in white tie dies not exude the sexuality of office so much as the purity of the idealist. His personality as rebel is framed all the more stylishly by his stiff clothes. With his gaunt, bearded old face he projects an image of moral purity that would have had the same impact 100 years ago as it does today. Actually it is thousands of years old, for his austere physical appearance evokes ancient Roman portraits of stoic philosophers and unbending senators. In the Louvre there’s an ancient Roman statue traditionally said to represent the moralistic writer Seneca. He has a beard that really reminds me of Corbyn’s.Corbyn in white tie dies not exude the sexuality of office so much as the purity of the idealist. His personality as rebel is framed all the more stylishly by his stiff clothes. With his gaunt, bearded old face he projects an image of moral purity that would have had the same impact 100 years ago as it does today. Actually it is thousands of years old, for his austere physical appearance evokes ancient Roman portraits of stoic philosophers and unbending senators. In the Louvre there’s an ancient Roman statue traditionally said to represent the moralistic writer Seneca. He has a beard that really reminds me of Corbyn’s.
The far left and snob right are both suckers for appearances. Corbyn fascinates both by looking like a revolutionary and later by turning up in white tie and projecting his severe moralising character all the more splendidly. What a stuffed shirt. For decades he has worn the uniform of the left. Why shouldn’t he take as easily to the uniform of posh society? His speeches are clumsy and repetitive, and on his ability to lead MPs he scores zero. But he is good at looking good – at projecting an image of virtue. Move over, Hugh Bonneville, here comes Jez in tails. You know what he really looks like in white tie? A damn fine actor with no decent lines. Straight outta Downton.The far left and snob right are both suckers for appearances. Corbyn fascinates both by looking like a revolutionary and later by turning up in white tie and projecting his severe moralising character all the more splendidly. What a stuffed shirt. For decades he has worn the uniform of the left. Why shouldn’t he take as easily to the uniform of posh society? His speeches are clumsy and repetitive, and on his ability to lead MPs he scores zero. But he is good at looking good – at projecting an image of virtue. Move over, Hugh Bonneville, here comes Jez in tails. You know what he really looks like in white tie? A damn fine actor with no decent lines. Straight outta Downton.