In the film ‘Being There’ an unsuspecting and sheltered gardener becomes an insider in Washington politics and a potential president. The Jeremyn Corbyn story sometimes feels a little like as if it’s following a not dissimilar narrative. Mr Corbyn looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Why is this? He is clearly a decent man with a clear sense of principles – none of which I would necessarily agree with – so why is he attracting acres of negative publicity? Probably because this man is auditioning to be our next Prime Minister. Granted, he did get a huge mandate from his party, but lets put this into perspective for a moment; the 251,000 people who voted for him represent just 0.5 per cent of the British electorate. Even Labour’s private analysis – given to Harriet Harman – concluded that the party lost because it was considered too much of a risk on the economy. Now we have a new shadow chancellor who lists among his interests in Who’s Who as “the overthrow of capitalism” and a new 60 per cent tax rate. As for the rest of his shadow cabinet there is a Shadow Foreign Secretary who holds a different view from his leader on the EU, a Shadow Home Secretary who disagrees with the leader about immigration, a vegan spokesman on food who has called for an end to animal farming, and a Shadow Chancellor who has praised the IRA’s “armed struggle”. He has no majority in his own Shadow Cabinet, a powerful deputy leader with his own mandate – and now a shadow First Secretary of State, too, appointed because of a lack of women at the top. It’s a car crash waiting to happen, which is not good for us as a party in government, it’s not good for democracy and its not good for the Labour Party.
I think Corbyn’s problem is that he has all the passion of radical student politics but his views have never matured. Growing up means putting down the banners, it means acknowledging that the etiquette of a public occasion means showing respect and good manners, it means not risking the nation’s or your children’s economic or national security. Above all it means moving into the centre ground and bringing the people with you, because no election was ever won from the extreme left or the extreme right. The harsh truth is that you have to win an election if you want to change the world and that seems a distant prospect for Labour right now under a Corbyn leadership.