Is the worst nightmare of Corbyn’s opponents about to come true?

Could Jeremy Corbyn come out of the Labour leadership contest with an even bigger mandate? Few would be surprised and a new poll on the front page of the Times today suggests that such an outcome is highly likely. The YouGov survey indicates Corbyn is beating his rival Owen Smith by 62 per cent to 38 per cent amongst Labour voters – a result which would gift him a three per cent spike on last year’s vote, when he won 59.5 per cent. This would spell disaster for those challenging Corbyn and make it almost certain that the Labour leader would still be in place come a 2020 general election. Yet whilst many have predicted such a convincing win for Corbyn could result in a split, as Isabel Hardman points out in the magazine this week, it’s worth remembering that talk of political realignment in Britain usually comes to nothing.