As top aide quits, is Corbyn’s leadership now sinking?

The best way to understand the chaos engulfing the start of the Labour party conference is by looking at the instability of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. Even if this is not immediately obvious from the outside (which, with such terrible personal poll ratings for Corbyn, it should be), it is the underlying factor in yesterday’s attempt to abolish Tom Watson, and in the resignation of Andrew Fisher, the leader’s policy chief.

Fisher isn’t a Labour man through and through: he endorsed a  Class War candidate standing against Labour in the 2015 election. But he is – or was – a Corbyn man through and through. He was involved in the first leadership campaign that sent the obscure backbencher rocketing into power. He was the brains behind the 2017 manifesto that attracted so many people to the Labour party. He had spent months planning policy announcements for this week’s conference in Brighton. This morning, the Sunday Times reveals