Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn tells Scottish supporters his critics are 'nervous about power of democracy'

Left-wing contender says Labour is still paying the price for the Iraq war

Jeremy Corbyn ahead of a rally in Aberdeen (PA)

Jeremy Corbyn has taken his campaign for the Labour leadership to Scotland, telling supporters that Tony Blair and his other critics in the party were simply “nervous about the power of democracy”.

In a speech in Aberdeen, he said Labour was still paying the price for Mr Blair’s decision to take the UK into the war with Iraq. In a barbed reference to his party’s former leader, he said he would never take the country into a conflict “on behalf of whatever capricious US president happens to be in office at that time”.

Mr Corbyn’s leadership rival Yvette Cooper said that he was offering “old solutions to old problems”. Mr Blair has warned that Labour will face “annihilation” if he is elected, while Alastair Campbell has urged party members to vote for “ABC – Anyone But Corbyn.”

Responding to the series of personal attacks, the left wing North Islington MP began his two-day tour of Scotland by criticising the “politics of celebrity” and suggesting that the electorate was more interested in the development of society than “yah boo sucks abusive politics”.

He said: “Democracy is complicated, difficult, but very exciting. I feel that some of those people that resort to personal abuse, name calling and all that are probably a bit nervous about the power of democracy.

“I believe many people, particularly young people, are totally turned off by the politics of celebrity, personality, personal abuse, name calling and all that kind of thing. Let’s be adult about it. Let’s have a serious debate, serious discussion, serious proposals put forward.”

Acknowledging that his campaign for the Labour leadership was offering “something very different” and that he had gained “amazing levels of support”, he said he would stand up for workers and not for wealthy people who enjoyed tax breaks.

“The poor, the vulnerable, the weak deserve a political system that works for them and helps them,” he said. “The rich, the powerful that benefit so much from our political system, don’t care what kind of name calling goes on providing their tax breaks go on.”

Mr Corbyn, who has been named as the surprise frontrunner for the Labour leadership in numerous polls, travelled to Dundee after his speech in Aberdeen and will visit Edinburgh and Glasgow on Friday. His opponents include Ms Cooper, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall, with the winner of the contest due to be announced on 12 September.