IMHO Labour's conflict is less leader vs. MPs than members vs. MPs, and the members vs. MPs conflict is the ultimate result of party reforms which gave the leadership a strong hand in selecting MP candidates. These reforms started at least under Kinnock, and I read Angela Eagle, the first failed anti-Corbyn candidate, is a prime example: she was made candidate when her local party's first choice was dumped by the leadership for going against the party line, and the leadership ignored more than half of the local party members' protest in the form of blank ballots. But this vetting from above got truly fully developed under Bliar, with the end result that the parliamentary Labour Party and the membership are like two different parties.

The Guardian, although it was critical of Bliarism a decade ago (at least much more so than its Sunday partner The Observer, which was gung-ho on the Iraq War) comes into the picture because its contacts are in the PLP. Also, its ownership structure shifted.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}