The right answer

David Cameron might not be remembered as the best prime minister in modern British history but he will probably be remembered as the luckiest. Jeremy Corbyn’s election as leader of the Labour party is proving worse — or, for the Tories, better — than anyone could have imagined. His wrecking ball is busy destroying everything that was built by Labour’s modernisers. He does not lack authenticity, belief and passion — but his beliefs are ones which would be more at home in a 1920s plenary meeting of the Moscow Soviet than in contemporary British living rooms.

The Chancellor sees Corbyn’s leadership as a chance to further blacken Labour’s name. The Prime Minister, for his part, released a statement informing voters that Labour ‘is now a threat to our national security, our economic security and your family’s security.’

But now is not the time to bash Labour. Now is the time to make a full, comprehensive and open offer to wavering Labour voters. If Marks & Spencer were to suffer a crisis, its rivals would try to steal its customers rather than releasing ads saying that M&S was always rubbish. If a newspaper folds, others lose no time in trying their hardest to pick up any stray readers. So where are the Tory efforts to appeal to the many Labour voters? Many on the left will be inclined to resign now, for the reasons that Nick Cohen outlines.

Midway through the election campaign, Lynton Crosby intervened to stop Tory candidates attacking Liberal Democrat MPs. It was time to make overtures to Lib Dem voters, he thought. Tory activists were told to forget how much they personally dislike Vince Cable and instead be nice about him, and explain why Conservatism is the better option.