The counter-revolution begins, comrades, on 12 June

Think of the Parliamentary Labour Party as a regiment ordered over the top in the First World War. The soldiers know the generals haven’t a clue. They know the battle was lost before it began. The only question in their minds is who makes it back from the slaughter.

The projected casualty rates vary. Corbyn’s supporters want to justify the left continuing to cling onto the leadership by getting close to Ed Miliband’s share of the vote in 2015. If they succeed they will keep the Labour party at 30 per cent and give the Tories a majority of 60 or 70. London Labour MPs also feel that the losses can be contained. Outside of London, where pressure from the right is fiercest, Labour MPs phone each other and talk of meltdowns in safe seats in Yorkshire and the North East, of every marginal with a majority of less than 5,000 going, and of the Labour seat total going below Michael Foot’s tally of 209 seats in 1983, to 200, 180, 170, or lower.