I didn’t see a ferret, reverse or otherwise, during Labour’s campaign launch or after. I heard some quite silly, grandstanding, questions from Laura Kuenssberg. And I heard a Labour leader who sounded a bit like…..well, a decent Labour leader.
None of this is to deny the patent catastrophe of Corbyn’s leadership of the party hitherto, or to suggest that I agreed with everything he said. But he spoke from the heart, passionately, with a conviction I do not hear in Theresa May’s frankly automaton repetitiveness. And much of what Corbyn had to say about tax avoiders, inequalities and hardship will play very well with his core vote north of the Wash.
I still wouldn’t vote for him and still less for his grim and sinister sidekick McDonnell. But I think Labour might disappoint some of the PLP by doing rather better in this election than expected. I thought that before and think it now even more so. If Corbyn continues to channel leftwing populism, his vote will rise.
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