Labour party

The last few days have seen a rapidly coarsening Labour debate over who is ultimately responsible for the party's historic election loss. Corbyn-sceptics have criticised the leadership's perceived failures while supporters have been flailing around in a desperate attempt to blame anyone but the leader himself. One such Corbyn cheerleader is Andy McDonald, who spoke to the BBC's Today programme this morning. During the interview, Mr McDonald poured scorn on the 'alleged toxic position of Jeremy Corbyn' before engaging in a full-scale assault on the perceived anti-Labour bias of the corporation. He told Justin Webb: Don't get me started on the media Justin, I'm very worried about our public service broadcaster...

Labour’s defeat is so terrible that it provides the kind of creative destruction that could save the party. It will be extremely difficult for the Corbynites to argue with much authority that one more push or slightly nicer newspapers would have got them over the line when the party hasn’t had a result this bad since 1935. But does the failure of Jeremy Corbyn necessarily mean that the ‘moderates’ in the party are going to be able to rescue it? In 2015, centre-left Labour MPs were confident that the members were so bruised by what they’d heard on the doorstep that they would happily elect a leader who took the party back to the middle ground of politics.

It is still too close to call. And the odds are still on a Tory victory. Even so, with the polls narrowing, with lots of constituencies likely to change hands and with plenty of voters still to make up their minds, there is still a real chance that by Friday morning Jeremy Corbyn could be moving into Number 10. For anyone with money and worst of all anyone who owns a company, a reign of terror will be about to begin. The Labour party has come up with so many different ways to harass and intimidate business it is hard for even the nerviest plutocrat to keep track of them all. Whole industries will be nationalised without much in the way of compensation. The Treasury will grab ten per cent of most companies under the guise of worker’s control. Union rights will be increased.

What's the point of political leaflets, anyway? Many voters in target seats will be asking that very question on an almost daily basis, as they shovel the latest snowdrifts of election literature into their recycling bin. We have social media, party election broadcasts and phone banks to reach voters. Who needs leaflets? There is a (I believe only half-serious) 'test' that some Liberal Democrat campaigners apply to the amount of information they think it is possible for a voter to absorb from a leaflet they're carrying from the letterbox to the bin. Given the parties keep sending them, particularly in those marginal seats where it's just not clear where the result is going to go, it's worth having a look at what they think is going to appeal to voters as they trudge once more to the bin.

John McDonnell was insisting this morning that Labour was going to win a majority, but just in case, insiders are suggesting that the Shadow Chancellor is planning to take over as interim leader if Jeremy Corbyn resigns after a general election defeat. McDonnell has long championed Rebecca Long-Bailey as a future leader, and there is speculation that he could install her as his shadow chancellor in order to boost her credentials. This explains why those around Corbyn were so keen to try to abolish Tom Watson as deputy leader in September. They tried to force a rule change at the party's ruling National Executive Committee meeting which would scrap the post.

The decline of the Liberal Democrats continues to give Labour a boost and rattle Tory nerves. Middle class Remainers who dislike Jeremy Corbyn are nonetheless deciding that he is their last best chance to thwart Brexit. Electing an anti-Semitic government so you don’t need to show a passport at Paris Charles de Gaulle is quite the ethical choice but there you go. It’s also a pretty big gamble. We know that Corbyn is a Brexiteer who believes freedom of movement drives down workers’ wages because he has told us as much. Voting for him to stop a hard Brexit isn’t so much holding your nose as poking your own eye, but Remainers know Labour backbenchers will hold him to his promises on a second referendum. Right?

Here’s a curiosity of the 2019 general election: given that both the big parties agree that austerity is over and Britain wants a more generous state, why is no one doing much to help the poor? And why is no one talking about that failure? These questions start with Labour. Jeremy Corbyn’s fans see him as a radical crusader for economic justice, an almost ascetic figure utterly devoted to the disadvantaged. In the mad 'story' about Corbyn and the Queen’s speech this week, the Labour leader had a perfectly good tale to tell: he spends part of his Christmas Day in a shelter for the homeless. According to the Social Metrics Commission (SMC), a cross-party group of experts (including my Social Market Foundation colleague Matt Oakley) there are 4.