Labour Leadership 2016

I mentioned this up thread, but will repeat it again for your benefit because, well it's easier to just believe what you read in the paper, innit?.

Don't be so fucking patronising.

The membership of the SWP, Socialist Party, CPGB etc and all the other far-left parties combined is absolutely miniscule compared to the 400,000 odd people who have joined the party since Corbyn was elected.

Paid-up membership of the hard left has always been much smaller than the number of people who adhere to it, same way the Tory and Labour parties' membership is much smaller than the people who vote for them come election time. It's not a valid metric for the comparison you're making.

The idea that they could sway the vote decisively by joining en masse just does not stack up.

There we disagree. See my next point.

Corbyn won because he secured massive support from trade unionists, young people and new middle-class members (from London predominantly).

Well, that's the thing we can't quantify without better data. Talking to Labour party members and people who attend meetings and so on, there's a lot of anecdotal evidence that suggests a big chunk of the new influx is entryist. Maybe they're not paid-up Swappies specifically, but the Swappies et al are doing a lot of work to influence them and their choices.

Edit to add - does nobody remember Respect? It was basically a party coming out of the Stop The War Coalition, which was largely dominated by the Swappies - but they made an effort to keep out of the limelight, not least because they've never actually registered as a party because that would require them to open their books. I'd dare say 90pc of the people involved in Respect weren't paid up Swappies either, but their influence was clear to anyone with eyes.