Smart political operators are often the stupidest people. In conventional Westminster terms, it was smart of Labour’s Chuka Umunna to say last night that everyone in Labour should work with Jeremy Corbyn.
Received wisdom expects us to applaud Umunna as he bows his head to conventional pieties and says Labour should get down with the kids, ‘celebrate’ the Corbyn-supporting yoof, ’embrace’ them and ‘harness’ their energy to revitalise Labour.
We are expected to nod sagely as political journalists tell us that Umunna is calculating that ‘if Corbyn, the clear frontrunner, is to fail, Umunna’s wing of the party must not have done anything to make it responsible’.
Clever move, we are meant to mutter. This guy knows it is best to keep your head down, and not go looking for trouble. A Corbyn-led Labour party will be a disaster, of course: a coalition of the cranky and the malignant. When it falls apart, you can see why Umunna and his colleagues don’t want to be blamed for disaster.
You can go on like this for some time.
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