Labour Leadership 2016

It's an interesting piece, thanks.

One thing that it does, which I think is worth noting, is completely reverse the narrative of the "Corbinista" - rather than a cabal of infiltrators, they're "click-bait activists" with no ties to actual politics. They rarely show up to meetings and have little real interactions with the party. I don't know which narrative is correct (well, obviously there's a bit of both), but it's interesting.

Also, the argument that it's a movement of belief rather than thought seems counter to my experience - it's the policies that attract people to the left. It's the middle that seems incapable of pulling together a coherent set of policies and arguments to take the Labour party forward. But again, there's probably something in the middle of these two positions that's more accurate.

This:

If Theresa May were to call an election in the next few months against a Corbyn-headed Labour party that is barely functioning, the polls indicate an increased Conservative majority, alongside the real possibility that UKIP could finally make a parliamentary breakthrough.

is not true according to yesterdays polls. The Tories would lose seats and fail to hold a majority. Of course, that's what the polls said in 2015 as well, though.

When it comes to moving forward it's good:

For all the conservative tenor of the present moment, the divisions of Brexit and the fact that boundary changes have not yet taken place does open up the possibility that a competent Labour electoral campaign aimed at the 48% (as well as those who voted Leave but are now wavering — or will be once a recession hits) could achieve a hung parliament — especially if a ‘progressive alliance’ agreement prevents a split in the left/liberal vote in Tory marginals.

This is my hope.

There is as yet no evidence that Corbyn is willing or able to run such a campaign.

Nor that anyone in the PLP will. I emailed my MP about this about two weeks ago and have yet to receive a response.

What, then, is to be done? There are no easy answers. But for a first step, all of those who have joined Labour over the past year should perhaps put their efforts into campaigning for Proportional Representation. It is only by getting rid of the farcical imbalance of FPTP that a Corbynist-style party has any chance of power (even if only as a minor partner in a coalition), and it would be far more effective in concrete terms than the membership reaching a million. Corbyn himself has had little to say about this issue, but McDonnell and Clive Lewis have intimated that a deal with the SNP, Greens, Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru — and perhaps even UKIP — could be a possibility.

Agree. But again, it's not just Corbyn who needs to get behind this.

Secondly, the idea that Corbyn retaining the leadership is worth a Labour split (before any implementation of PR) has to be rejected outright.

This conclusion is begging the question. Corbyn is not alone in this. His supporters are not alone in this. A party split requires, at least, two parts. The logic of this argument works just as well in the other direction: because a split is possible Corbyn's detractors must go (not in the sense of splitting, obvs.), or get behind him.

As has become clear, there is no easy solution.