Diane Abbott’s car-crash Sunday Politics interview shows the depth of Labour’s denial

The Labour leadership contest is compulsive watching for conservatives with a taste in schadenfreude. Jeremy Corbyn’s inclusion reminds everyone how the party may have succeeded in expelling the electable Blairites, but not the unelectable lefties. Corbyn pulled out of being interviewed by Andrew Neil for BBC Sunday Politics today, citing a last-minute emergency. But we were treated to Diane Abbott instead. It was a case study in Labour’s denial of reality.

“We should be making sure that the people with the broadest shoulders bear the greatest burden,” she said. That’s precisely what George Osborne did when he cut the top rate of tax (below). The best-paid 1pc, 0.1pc and 0.01pc are all shouldering a greater share of the burden than at any time under Labour.

She then claimed to speak for the people. “There were 250,000 people out in London yesterday,” she said, referring to the anti-austerity march. “Do you know why they’re there? They think this current round of cuts is unfair.”