Is Owen Smith the answer to Labour’s Corbyn problem?

As Katy reports, Labour appeared rather divided at its leadership hustings today. Behind the scenes, Owen Smith does seem to be attracting the greater support, including defectors from Angela Eagle’s camp. Some of those around Eagle are upset that their party may be about to elect yet another man when a woman has had the bravery to start the leadership contest and to take a great deal of abuse for doing it too (her office had a brick thrown through its window last week). But they accept that even their party’s rather embarrassing failure to get anywhere close to the Tories in terms of female leaders is a second order problem compared to getting rid of Jeremy Corbyn. 

This is why a good number of MPs who have given Eagle their support have privately told me that they too will abandon their support for her if necessary in order to ensure that there is just one challenger to Corbyn.