Details of the alleged plots and schemes to sink the Labour party are beginning to emerge. On the one hand there does appear to be some evidence that a few Telegraph readers on the nutty wing may have become supporters in order to vote for Corbyn, but the main thrust seems to be coming from a campaign from several unions to call or text their members and encourage them to vote individually, as the blanket union vote for the new leader no longer exists. It will therefore make it much more difficult to remove any candidate by a later challenge without appearing an out of touch spoiler, if the winner has a substantial lead in what is now a popular vote. What is clear is that many, if not the majority, of those votes are likely to come from people who have given up voting at all because of disenchantment with New labour. There could be up to 4 million of those, though how many will take part is difficult to tell.
A recent poll found that people were generally voting for the candidate whom they thought had the best chance of winning for Labour in 2020. Except for Corbyn. His votes are coming from people who like his policies and the distance he is putting between his vision and New Labour. That is where his strength is coming from. So while the mist is clearing, visibility remains at best fair. There is very little doubt that Labour has temporarily lost its way and when it finds it again, whoever wins will be obliged to lead from far further left than anybody since Neil Kinnock. But it will be a left of fairness, inclusion and rebalancing the economy to favour labour over capital. It will not hark back to Clause Four or union indiscipline. Those days are gone.
