ONE-HIT WONDER JEREMY MAY BE TOP OF THE FLOPS

JEREMY Corbyn’s pop star appeal is beginning to fade if ticket sales for a Labour-organised musical shindig this summer are anything to go by.

The hard-Left Labour leader, who was given a rapturous reception at last year’s Glastonbury Festival, is failing to draw the crowds to a more modest event called Labour Live next month. Staged in north London the pop and politics party dubbed “Jez Fest” features music acts interspersed with speeches from the likes of Mr Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell. One earlier report this week suggested only around 1,800 of the 20,000 tickets had been sold. The chants of “Whoa Jeremy Corbyn!” are likely to be rather quieter this year.

Some Labour insiders blame the lack of star names among the music acts for the slow sales. But others are beginning to wonder whether the lack of interest is another sign that the cult of Corbyn among younger voters – and those too young to vote – is on the way out. Labour has a long and dubious history of attempting to blend politics with pop music. With a then youthful and mustachioed Ken Livingstone at the helm, the Labour-controlled Greater London Council loved to fritter ratepayers’ cash on free concerts before being abolished in the early 1980s.

Soon after, Left-wing warblers including Billy Bragg tried to raise support for the party with “Red Wedge” tours. Labour’s double general election-losing leader Neil Kinnock even appeared in a pop video with the singer Tracey Ullman. Such dabbling with the music industry in the 1980s did little to get Labour closer to power. Events like Labour Live tend to give participants a warm glow of virtue at the time but the effect can wear off as soon as the ears stop ringing and the hangover kicks in.

When he bounds on to the stage at Labour Live, Mr Corbyn may find pop fans can be as fickle as voters. He may have to get used to being a one-hit wonder.