WHEN Jeremy Corbyn was nominated by 35 of his fellow MPs to join the leadership contest, I was still in mourning for Labour’s loss in the May 2015 general election. You see, the Labour Party’s defeat had left me low because I felt this would probably be the last time I would have the opportunity to vote in a general election and see much-needed social change come to Britain, because I am in my nineties.

For me, this year’s general election was about taking a stand against austerity but it also made me feel nostalgic for a time when my generation did its best to change Britain for the betterment of everyone. So over the course of that election I revisited many of the emotions that I experienced when, at the age of 22, I still wore an RAF uniform and voted for the first time.

In 1945, when I made my mark for a Clement Attlee Labour government, I believed with my head and my heart that I was voting for my future and my children’s. Seventy years on, as I live among the wreckage of a pillaged welfare state, I know that my trust in that Labour government was correct. Unfortunately it was the governments that succeeded Attlee who broke their bond with the ordinary voter.

Still, after having the opportunity to meet and talk with Ed Miliband about his vision for the country I gladly agreed to make stump speeches for Labour during the election, through 50 cities, towns, villages and hamlets, because I trusted his sincerity. I also thought I could make a difference in marginal seats by reminding people what we had lost through this Tory-induced austerity. In those diverse community centres, clubs and events, I talked about my past and my generation’s struggles to build institutions that would provide affordable healthcare and housing to every citizen.

Nevertheless, I was realistic enough to realise that had Miliband beaten David Cameron, it would not have created the social revolution I experienced in the 1940s after WWII. Still, had Labour won on May 7 it would have alleviated some of the pain that so many people have endured because of this present-day Tory-induced austerity. For me, Labour’s answers under Miliband were far from perfect, but I thought perhaps the days of big ideas for the betterment of our citizens had died when our country in the 1980s and ’90s let greed and corporate self-interest metastasise to consume common sense and compassion.

So even though I wasn’t fully enthused by Labour’s election platform, their defeat cut me deep and I feared for the party’s future. I was fearful that those who hold so much control over Labour’s destiny, like our former leaders, policy wonks and financial benefactors, would out of self-interest tighten their grasp on the levers of power and move Labour far to the right of an already immoderate centre. In short, they would anoint through their influence in the media and the party a leader who would take inspiration from polling companies rather than the needs of everyday Britain.

My doldrums over Labour’s intent to shift to the right didn’t end until Corbyn’s leadership campaign began. At first I believed he had as much chance of victory as I did of running a four-minute mile at the age of 92. I thought during the campaign he would be treated like a weak contestant in a reality TV show — a chap who the show’s producers expect to be defeated quickly by his opponents but praised for his bravery and true commitment to socialism. In fact, at the beginning of this leadership endeavour I had backed Andy Burnham — but everything changed for me when the shadow cabinet displayed a suicidal hubris and abstained from voting against a Welfare Bill that will ruin and impoverish many lives.

At that moment Corbyn stood front and centre from all the other candidates because he proved that compassion is also leadership. It was at that moment I switch my allegiance from Burnham to Corbyn. I felt Corbyn had proved why he would be a great opposition leader and eventually prime minister. He did not disappoint me during his campaign because he spoke with earnest directness about the need for Britain to start building prosperity through a new deal that will change everyone life for the better, whether they were the vulnerable underclass or the hard-pressed middle class. Corbyn is a natural leader because has spent years fighting for the rights of the others and enacting legislation that makes our country a more equal and productive state.

This summer Corbynmania electrified those from our younger generation who are committed to making a real future for themselves, because he provided clear solutions to end student debt, flat wages, unaffordable housing and the burden of living in a zero-hours contracts world. Many in the trade union movement have also been inspired by Corbyn’s commitment to fight against the Tory Trade Union Bill that is not only anti-worker but anti-democratic.

For so many reasons, it didn’t surprise me when Corbyn was elected as Labour leader with a mandate of 59 per cent of tallied votes. Simply put, Jeremy Corbyn’s message resonated with so many people because it was filled with hope, determination and good common sense. It’s wonderful that, for the first time in a long time, Britain has a politician who doesn’t speak in talking points but instead speaks openly and honestly about the problems Britain faces and also the difficulties the Labour Party must overcome to be an effective opposition and brilliant government in 2020.

During these next coming months, we will learn that getting Corbyn elected leader was the easiest of tasks. For he will be tested by the fire of a right-wing media that has unlimited resources, dubious ethics and a commitment to preserve the status-quo that favours the rich over everyone else.

Cameron’s government, in its attempt to drown the progressive voices in this country, will use every cynical device and cruel smear ever employed in attack politics. Moreover Corbyn will have to contend with Labour grandees who, although wounded by his election, still have fangs to draw blood.

Lastly, if the summer told Corbyn supporters anything, it’s that the media isn’t an ally because many political pundits are still loyal to the ancient regime of Blairism and will to their dying breath champion the cause of New Labour, regardless of how much harm they do to progressive politics.

But we will face these challenges just as my generation met the obstacles which were put in our way while we tried to create the NHS — with grit, solidarity and perseverance. This will not be an easy battle but nothing worth fighting for in this life ever comes without much struggle. But Corbyn’s victory and election as Labour’s new leader tells me that politics for the people and by the people has made a beachhead. It’s therefore the task of anyone committed to social justice to ensure that footing doesn’t get washed away by the truculence of the vanquished or the myopia of certain political experts, who forget that government is about more than self-interest and personal survival.

It’s about making a British society that works and is beneficial to each one of us. Now that Corbyn is leader I look forward to helping out on the long but progressive march to victory in 2020 and if I can do it at 92, so can you.

• Harry’s Last Stand and Love Among the Ruins, published by Icon Books, are available now. Join Harry Leslie Smith on Twitter @Harryslaststand.