Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Jeremy Corbyn’s toxic legacy

Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images

What will we do without Jeremy Corbyn? We may never find out given how long it’s taking him to leave the stage. Even Sinatra’s farewell tour didn’t last this long. The problem is that Corbyn wants to be useful. While that would certainly be a change of pace, it places the onus on others to find a use for him. His disciples propose that he be kept on the front bench, perhaps as shadow foreign secretary, marking their progression through all six stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance and Richard Burgon.

There is a cruelty to all this. No one who has watched the video of Corbyn ambling around in the street encouraging his neighbours to applaud the NHS will have failed to feel some pang of pity for the man. The scene is reminiscent of Delia Smith’s half-time speech to Norwich City fans as they faced relegation in 2005. ‘We need a Labour government here. Where are you? Let’s be ‘avin’ you.’ At least Delia had an excuse: she wasn’t responsible for City’s on-pitch performance. Corbyn is responsible for Labour’s transformation from a Premier League squad to a local amateur side convinced every ref is biased in favour of Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Corbyn is lingering in search of a legacy but he already has one

Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg have paid generous tribute to the Labour leader and, since Covid-19 has suspended politics-as-usual, there’s an argument that Corbyn’s critics should keep a gracious silence in his final days in office. No one likes to kick a man when he’s down.

Well, I do. When it’s this man, I do. When it’s this poisonous cynic who has done so much to antagonise British Jews, this banal egotist who has set back centre-left politics in this country for a generation, then I’m more than happy to strap on my steel toe caps and put the boot in.

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