Steven Fielding

Is this the beginning of the end for Jeremy Corbyn?

Did Labour’s conference help or hinder Jeremy Corbyn’s chances of becoming prime minister? For some, Corbyn ended up stronger than ever. There will be a review of the post of deputy leader, one likely to see the authority of Tom Watson, his severest internal critic, greatly diminished. Corbyn also won a critical vote on Brexit which endorsed his position of neutrality going into a general election. The conference also passed a raft of policies that confirm support in the party for Corbyn’s desire to dramatically extend state intervention in the cause of promoting economic growth, greater equality and tackling climate change. As John McDonnell, the ultimate architect of the party’s enthusiastic re-embrace of the state, told delegates, Labour’s ambition is to ‘lay the foundations of a new society, foundations so deeply rooted that the Tories can never break them up.’

This triumphalism however obscures a deeper truth. Whatever conference voted for in Brighton, Corbynism – the transformative project which was going to turn Labour from a conventional social democratic party into a radical social movement – has stalled.

This was obvious before delegates gathered in Brighton. Labour has not recovered from the shock of the local and European elections which saw it haemorrhage votes to parties with a clear Remain position, the Liberal Democrats especially.

In recent polls, it usually trails the Conservatives, sometimes by as much as ten per cent. Party membership has also been in decline for some time and might now be as low as 400,000, while the hoped-for activism at the grass-roots has not materialised on a significant scale.

The most tangible sign of Corbynism’s limitations on the ground has however been the failure of supporters to trigger the deselection of Corbyn’s greatest critics in the Commons. This means that whatever the result of the next election, most Labour MPs will be Corbyn-sceptics.

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