This week, I met up with Jonty Leibowitz, the Campaigns Officer of the Cambridge Universities Labour Club (CULC). We spoke about the recent Labour reshuffle, cuts to student loans and pure-blooded Corbynites.

What does being a member of CULC involve?                       

It’s very varied. At the moment, I’ve just finished a day’s campaigning for the May council elections, which is something we do every Saturday. It’s not as exciting as the national elections last year but it’s really important that students see that local projects really matter, and don’t just worry about the big picture.

The elections last year must have been a difficult moment for CULC.

It was remarkable. On Election Day, forty of us got up at 4am, and campaigned until the polling stations closed and there was so much camaraderie. Then the exit poll came out. It was like being punched in the face. By 12 o’clock, nothing had changed. By 1, the polls were getting worse. And then we went to the count in Cambridge and we won! We were crying and hugging in Market Square and it was such a wonderful moment. To say it was a day of ‘mixed emotions’ is such a cliché but that’s the only way to describe it.

What is Daniel Zeichner doing for Cambridge at the moment? He’s seen as an ally of Jeremy Corbyn.

He’s certainly sympathetic to Corbyn and is now a Shadow Transport Minister. I would say he was more comfortable with Ed Miliband’s leadership. But he’s doing a lot of good work for Cambridge, particularly for students. It was a combination of Daniel Zeichner, Labour councillors and Green and Lib Dem councillors which stopped the Conservative county council from switching off streetlights in Cambridge, to combat cases of sexual assault.

You say Zeichner is more of a Miliband supporter. Do you worry that the party is much less united than it was last year?

Definitely. It feels like in Harry Potter, where the Pure Bloods try to force others out. It’s becoming especially worrying on Twitter. Some people are loyalists to the Corbyn regime, which means that others get marginalised.

Regime is a strong word to use. Is the reshuffle a step back from Corbyn’s calls for varied debate in the Party?

Perhaps not quite regime, then, but the way the reshuffle was done didn’t make me feel proud to be in the party. I don’t see a problem with him reshuffling his Cabinet; he has a right to have people who support him alongside him. But it divided people and impacted on diversity. It wasn’t just what happened, but the way it happened. It felt like The Thick of It; there were journalists camped outside MPs houses and everything dragged on for the days.

Does the reshuffle make Labour more electable?

No. We’re a million miles away from being electable. He elected a strong first Cabinet which made people very happy. In May, there are some important elections which Labour needs to win. But I think what the Labour Party want to talk about and what the public want to talk about are two very different things.

Surely issues such as Trident and the European Union are very important to the public?

Of course. But we’re not doing things in the right way. There are very few euro-sceptics in the party. But the Better In campaign is currently being led by CEOs and business leaders telling us that membership is great for them. Labour should be filling the leadership gap of the in-campaign because if we fail to make ordinary people realise why we should stay in the EU, the UK will leave.

On a national level, recently it took half an hour for eighteen MPs to axe maintenance grants for half of the UKs poorest students. What’s your assessment of the Tory government’s impact on students?

The worst thing Cameron has done is the way he’s treated students. In May, millions were off the register and because old people vote and young people don’t, pensions get protected and grants don’t. If we look at the junior doctors’ strike, it reflects the fact that the rate of those studying Medicine has fallen dramatically under Cameron. Corbyn’s best work has definitely been what he’s done for students.

Yes, but it’s undeniable that many students voted for the Conservatives in May. Do you think Corbyn can change things for students?

I think he can, but it’s very difficult. Labour is the natural protector of students but it needs to stop taking its votes for granted. Amongst the 3 traditional sectors of Labour voters: young people, voters in the North and BME people, the Labour vote has been falling for years. From campaigning in May and more recently, the phrase I hear every time from traditional Labour voters is “I’ve fallen out of love with the party.” I’m not sure if a very cosmopolitan Labour Party, dominated by North London voices, is the way to win back the student vote.

What is CULC doing in order to encourage a wider range of voices?

We always try to be very inclusive. Politics in Cambridge is often dominated by white boys debating history in the pub, but we have a female chair and a female vice-chair. We also invite left-leaning speakers who aren’t always connected to the Party. 200 people came to see Owen Jones speak last year and we have a Kurdish rights activist coming to speak for us soon. I think people on the left are naturally friendly anyway and we always try to include as many as possible.