It appeared the ultimate summer ‘silly season’ story: that Labour would choose an unrepentant, self-consciously unspun bearded leftie as its leader. But, as ballot papers for the leadership election are dispatched, the story is threatening to close with a nightmare final chapter for the party. This week the pollsters YouGov had Corbyn 20 points ahead of Andy Burnham, his closest rival, and in a position to win the contest in its first round. Labour thus faces the prospect of a defeat in 2020 that could make Margaret Thatcher’s 1983 landslide look small-scale.
But while Corbyn’s rise may not have been predicted, it was eminently predictable. Labour has consistent form when it comes to such self-harming behaviour: after it lost power in 1951, 1970 and 1979, the party engaged in vicious internal warfare and then moved sharply to the left.
In each of these fights, the left has trotted out its hackneyed narrative about the ‘great betrayal’ supposedly committed during Labour’s time in office.
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