Could this be the beginning of Corbyn’s end?
themselves from some of the hardLeft’s excesses suggests Momentum has a succession problem. While 68-year-old Mr Corybn remains the messiah for the party’s youthful activists there is no obvious charismatic figure to replace him as the head of their personality cult once he decides to retire to spend more time on his Islington allotment.
John McDonnell, the ambitious shadow chancellor seen as most likely candidate to carry the Corbynite banner into a future leadership contest, is unlikely to have the same celebrity appeal as the current leader. The hard-Left’s failure to create a Corbynite dynasty suggests a sign of its weakness.
MR CORBYN’S allies have certainly vanquished the Blairite wing of the Labour Party. Despairing moderates admit more of their number are likely to quit the Commons well before the next general election. “Some MPs are losing the battle in their constituency parties and won’t stay around,” one insider told me. But while the Blairites are in retreat, a new “soft Left” is emerging in the party’s ranks among MPs and activists.
Mr Corbyn’s grip in recent months has largely been based on the expectation that Theresa May’s Government was on the brink of collapse and another general election was about to be triggered. Her success yesterday in the Brexit negotiations has reduced that possibility and will force Labour minds to look to the longer term. They need to decide whether, like Macbeth, they allow the fruitless bloodletting in their party to continue.