Corbyn's strategy for a softer Brexit

Probably the most important event at yesterday’s shadow cabinet was a presentation by Labour’s campaigns director Niall Sookoo of polling that purported to show that ‘our support has fallen because we back a People’s Vote’ – according to a frontbencher.

The party’s chairman Ian Lavery, who opposes Labour backing a Brexit referendum, was thrilled and crowed ‘I told you so’, according to my source. The shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, who backs a People’s Vote, ‘ripped it to shreds’.

Another source said: ‘There was a presentation to the shadow cabinet updating on the local election and the impact of support for a second referendum on our levels of support, including doorstep feedback’.

This was ‘North Korean style polling’, one Labour source told me – which gives you a sense of quite how split Labour’s frontbench team are on how enthusiastically to promote a referendum.