Ditching Jeremy Corbyn won’t solve Labour’s woes

If the United Kingdom is going to leave the European Union – which, thanks to the Brexiteers who keep voting against Brexit in the House of Commons is no longer as certain as it once seemed – it can at least say that it went out with a crash, a bang, and one heck of a wallop. Britain’s elections to the European Parliament were never as entertaining as this. In that respect, for once the best was saved for last. 

If the Tories had a thoroughly miserable night it was also a battering they deserved. The Conservatives decided to make themselves the party of Brexit and then failed to deliver Brexit. The Prime Minister must take her portion of blame for that but so must the backbenchers who voted against the withdrawal agreement she negotiated. 

But as the party of government – or, at any rate, the party of notional government – the Tories could be expected to lose ground at an unusual, one-off, election such as this.