Comment Opponents of Corbyn on horns of a dilemma
disaster. It would be hard now for them to pretend that they support him.
Another option is a second leadership challenge.
When it became clear that a leadership elections would take place, Mr Corbyn’s critics weren’t all confident of victory.
But some MPs spoke of holding one challenge after another – perhaps once a year – until he was eventually defeated.
However, they may have changed their mind after seeing what actually happened this time.
The battle which just ended seems to have strengthened Mr Corbyn’s position. Certainly, many of his supporters seem convinced that Labour MPs are their enemy, and are less inclined than ever to listen to MPs’ concerns about the party’s electoral prospects.
A third option is that Labour could split, with moderate MPs forming a new party. But this seems very unlikely to happen.
There’s no reason to imagine that any new party would match, let alone exceed, the success of the breakaway SDP in the 1980s, founded by Labour MPs who despaired of the direction their party had taken.
It enjoyed a brief spell of success but never gained power and eventually merged with the Liberals to form the Liberal Democrats.
The most likely outcome is an uneasy truce – as Mr Corbyn’s opponents in the Parliamentary party return to the backbenches, lick their wounds and bide their time.
One aim would be to ensure that Mr Corbyn’s supporters have nobody to blame but themselves if the party loses the next general election.
The difficulty with this approach is that it means Mr Corbyn is sure to lead the party into the next election (unless he chooses to resign voluntarily for some reason), which his critics think would guarantee of a Tory victory.