Corbyn’s cult have learnt nothing from the left’s last election wipeout

I initially misread the reaction of Labour’s leading Corbynites and social media outriders to the party’s most cataclysmic defeat since 1935. I thought they were arguing Labour lost because of Brexit; that Jeremy Corbyn’s unpopularity was purely due to media vilification; and its manifesto evoked only a positive response on the doorstep simply because they wanted to persuade members they should vote for a continuity Corbynite candidate in the forthcoming leadership election.

But as the days passed I realised I was wrong. At least some of them genuinely believe that, as Corbyn himself put it, Labour ‘won the argument’ on 12 December. As newly-elected MP Claudia Webbe’s incoherent defence of the manifesto suggests, if they do not all have the words to articulate their position, Cobynites feel this very deeply.

And if Lloyd Russell-Moyle was widely mocked, as in his election-night speech he excitedly shouted the party would fight on against Boris Johnson’s government in the workplaces and on the streets, his heartfelt defiance was widely shared across the left Labour Twittersphere.