Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, UK. Chatham House / Flickr. Some rights reserved.
On the unique calculator that Jeremy Corbyn uses, there must be a sequence of numbers – somewhere between meltdown and minimal respectability - that most psephologists won’t recognise. This is where ‘victory’ in the general election resides. Not the win that would take Labour into Number 10, but the result that will keep Corbyn as Labour’s leader – and finally bury his party as an electable political entity.
Labour’s expectations going into the general election campaign were so low that simply avoiding a disaster, or a cataclysmic collapse, was seen as a reason to be cheerful. For those of us struggling with Corbyn’s election as leader, and in almost-permanent mourning over the attritional weekly loss of credibility, the election was a justifiable period to contemplate hiding behind the sofa.
