Not even Owen Smith is pretending that he’ll defeat Jeremy Corbyn when the leadership election results are announced this weekend. Tom Watson, Corbyn’s deputy, has told Today that it’s time for healing, time to ‘put the band back together’. The band contains Corbynite 70s metal, McClusky backing vocals and Watson indie trash – not a sound that many voters find appealing. But Watson wants to sound supportive of its lead singer. In his interview with Today he said he’d be happy for Smith to fail and added that Corbyn would make a very good prime minister – with an important caveat:
‘I think Jeremy could easily be a Labour prime minister, I think we’ve got to change what we do, how we campaign. I think we’ve got to change how we do our policies and make sure we prioritise other policy areas….’
Watson, like most Labour MPs, wants the shadow cabinet to be elected by MPs – Corbyn wants his party members to vote, something that would almost certainly mean the shadow cabinet is flooded with Corbyn allies.
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