Isabel Hardman writes:

Ever since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour party, many of his MPs have dreamed of deposing him. They’ve tried mass shadow ministerial resignations, a no-confidence motion, even a formal leadership contest — but to no avail. Some, like Chuka Umunna, left the party, hoping (in vain) that others would join their breakaway group. Other MPs gave up hope, resigned and found jobs outside of politics — concluding no plot would ever work. But that might now be changing.

The Corbynites, who have stuck together for so long, are fighting with each other. Party members, once the human shield who protected their leader, are beginning to doubt him. The Labour lords are in open rebellion, and have taken out an advert in the Guardian attacking Corbyn over his failure to deal with anti-Semitism: the Labour party welcomes everyone ‘except, it seems, Jews’, it reads. And MPs are beginning to organise themselves much better having found, in their deputy leader Tom Watson, someone with the skills and the motivation to act. If there is to be a general election this year, it’s not impossible that the Tories — having held a leadership contest to prepare to fight Corbyn — could end up facing someone else.

In May, minds were concentrated after Labour performed poorly in the European elections and was forced into third place by the Liberal Democrats. The party’s ambiguity about Brexit, which had been seen by party members as a price worth paying to keep Leave voters on board, had become a liability, driving voters into the arms of the Lib Dems. Insiders claim that Labour is now losing thousands of members every week over its failure to take a stance. Senior figures such as John McDonnell and Emily Thornberry panicked about what this might mean during a general election, and began calling on Corbyn to change course and make Labour an explicitly anti-Brexit party.

The Corbynites at the top feel flustered, even embattled, which helps explain the scenes we have seen recently: former members of staff threatened with legal action for blowing the whistle on the party’s handling of anti-Semitism, which was exposed in last week’s BBC Panorama. With this has come pressure on Corbyn to remove or sideline his two powerful advisers, Karie Murphy and Seumas Milne. [Continue reading…]