There was never any chance of Corbyn going nuclear on the PLP = not just because he's a nice guy, but because it would have split the party, possibly permanently.

"Split the party" meaning there would have been a mass exodus of "centrist" PLP MPs - who would have done a deal with the LibDems - leaving a relative small left-leaning rump.

That might have been fine in normal times. But the Tories were busy pandering to working class xenophobia with Brexit, and Labour would have ended up in an even worse position and the Tories in an even better one.

The more I look back on the last few years, the more obvious it is that politics in the UK is a stage show. The primary goal is always to keep the left out of power and to increase the power of the corporate right. Everything - from Brexit to the existence of the SDP/LibDems to Blair's "victories" - stems from that political prime directive.

The left cannot win in the UK because there is no real press or media freedom, no real interest in debating issues or planning for the future, and no limits to how far the corporate right will go when it comes to smearing or otherwise manipulating the narrative around the left and its leaders. And then of course FPTP translates to winner-takes-all election outcomes.

So here we are. There may be a new generation of left-leaning politicians willing to take this on over the next decade or two. But it's a huge mountain to climb, and the UK is more likely to split apart than allow the gradual change that would make room for a genuine popular left-leaning government.