I, personally, will be very sad if Corbyn goes.  He may very well be the last leader of Labour as a major political force.  Yes he is a throwback to a previous age: The sort of leftwinger who organised rallies and protests and joined all sorts of progressive advocacy groups that I used to get involved with in my youth.  But he also represents a decency and integrity which is almost entirely absent from todays post factual politics.

The candidates he stood a against in the last leadership election were simply absolutely awful.  They couldn't give a straight answer to  straight question. All seemed to be careerist crawthumping ingratiaters who would do or say anything if they felt it would further their promotional prospects and who wouldn't know a principled stand if it slapped them in the face.  None of them actually seemed to believe in socialism or trade unionism or anything Labour used to stand for.

So Corbyn was a giant amongst pygmies, and remains one of the greatest assets the labour party still has.  I wouldn't be surprised if he successfully withstood the Westminster coup being plotted against him.  In fact it could further his standing as an outsider not of the Westminster elite who have been primarily responsible for the current mess.  Perhaps the British press are about to find out that they no longer call the shots.  

I could even see Corbyn becoming Prime Minister if the Tory party splits over the EU, and UKIP runs away with a lot of their votes.  He is the only person with the standing to actually reverse course and negotiate a left leaning reform of the EU as the price of staying in - following an election in which he explicitly campaigned for a remain.  But maybe that is wishful thinking on my part...

Index of Frank's Diaries