Corbyn is the only unthinkable outcome in this political crisis

For something that has yet to and may never happen, Brexit has reordered the fundamentals of British politics in just three years. The Tories have shifted decisively from post-Thatcher ambivalence about their role as upholders of the prevailing order to a right-wing radicalism that views Parliament, the legal establishment, and captains of industry as threats to, rather than pillars of, British freedom.

Electoral reformers who once downplayed the time-honoured link between constituent and parliamentarian now laud MPs who spurn a national result in deference to local opinion. Cultural identity has replaced austerity as the motor of progressive antagonism towards the Tories, who in turn have lost all interest in fiscal prudence and economic growth.

One of the more surreptitious evolutions has been the quiet mutation of Corbynism. It has gone from a project of the transformative left to one of managerial populism — Miliband’s Labour with more oomph and some Newsnight Bolsheviks to tour the TV studios.