21 August 2019updated 25 Jun 2021 6:36am

As the Tories self-destruct over Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn’s new stance has been vindicated

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 2: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn poses with the Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future UK-EU relationship, in his office in the Houses of Parliament on April 2, 2019 in London, England. The Labour Leader has agreed to meet the Prime Minister for cross-party talks after her address to the nation stating she will ask the EU for an extension to the negotiating period of Article 50. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Theresa May has cracked. And of all the elemental forces that did the cracking, Jeremy Corbyn deserves the greatest credit. With just nine days to go until a no-deal Brexit, May was forced to face down her own cabinet, take no deal off the table, and invite Corbyn – who she’s otherised and vilified as not fit to govern – into talks in which he has the whip hand.

Whatever the outcome of those talks, the power shift in the past 10 days is obvious: from the European Research Group to the liberal wing of the Tories, from the government to parliament, and from the Eurosceptic wing of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) to the membership. It can always shift the other way, and we are still several moves away from checkmate, but we can still draw a provisional balance sheet on the way Corbyn has fought May’s Brexit plans.