They Do Things Differently There

If Jeremy Corbyn is challenged on his "Loony Leftism" long ago, then he will have at least three possible answers, and he ought to deploy them all.

First, the view that he then expressed on the government of Northern Ireland has since been accepted even by the DUP. For good or ill, that is the plain and simple fact of the matter.

Secondly, not only is his view on the public ownership of the railways shared by between 70 and 80 per cent of the electorate, stable across all party bases and across all parts of the country, but it was a Labour manifesto commitment in 1997, and it was explicitly stated from several platforms by Tony Blair himself.

And thirdly, in most cases nothing very much came of the almost forgotten programme of the 1980s Hard Left.

Whereas rather more recent years have seen distinctly more extreme policies given practical effect, from the Private Finance Initiative, to the hiving off of monetary policy from the instruments of democratic political control, to the letting of Andersen off the hook over DeLorean, to the Iraq War, to prolonged detention without charge, to the declaration of a "marine reserve" in order to prevent the British Chagossians from ever going home, to at least the nominal holding open of the door to joining the euro.

Among so very, very, very, very many others.

All in the face of fulsome opposition from, among other people, Jeremy Corbyn.

I am a Burnham supporter (whether or not they will let me vote, of which perhaps more anon), but if the utterly undistinguished and politically absurd Liz Kendall can be on the ballot, then I cannot for the life of me see why Corbyn ought not to be, and ought not to do well.