Labour’s Oldham hold is a boost to Jeremy Corbyn

Whichever way you look at it, the Oldham West and Royton by-election result is a boost to Jeremy Corbyn. His opponents in the party might not quite have gone so far as to hope the seat would be lost to Ukip (though those around the leader think that some MPs would have found a loss less devastating than they probably should), but they certainly thought that Corbyn would play very badly indeed on the doorstep. Indeed, all the reports from those on the ground in the constituency and later from MPs returning from the campaign trail were that the white working class vote was not warming to Corbyn at all.

This morning, those Corbyn opponents are pointing out that his office signed off a campaign plan that deliberately sidelined the Labour leader and accentuated Jim McMahon, a moderate, as the local candidate.