How to make sense of Jeremy Corbyn's pitch to Remainers

What is Jeremy Corbyn up to? The appeal in his letter to Remainers in the Commons to turf Boris Johnson out, and magically transform the Leader of the Opposition into an ‘interim’ Prime Minister – one who would block not just a no-deal Brexit but any Brexit at all, looks like something out of a Bulgakov novel. But there is a sensible – at least from Corbyn’s point of view – purpose behind it.

Few of the various ex-Labour and ex-Conservative independent MPs are likely to support the appeal. Many Corbyn-despising Labour MPs will not back it. A couple of Tories might decide to end their parliamentary careers endorsing it. But Corbyn’s appeal will effectively dissuade most moderate Tory Remainers from voting against their own Government. The Lib Dems, ambitious above all for themselves, have already dismissed the idea as ‘nonsense’.