According to the latest YouGov poll, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leadership candidate whose views are closest to my own, is sailing to victory. Yet his supporters, according to the same poll, lack confidence that he can win the 2020 election. That doesn’t matter, the Corbynites say. “What’s important,” argues the musician Brian Eno, “is that someone changes the conversation.”
It is hard to disagree. We have five years of Tory government ahead, with ministers determined to cut benefits, sell off state assets and reduce the scope of public services. We need an articulate and passionate Labour leader who can rally opposition. But we also need a quick-witted leader who can find ways of disrupting the Tory plans and protecting, if only at the margins, those who will be hit hardest.
Content from our partners
