Corbyn as PM is still best option

THE hairline fractures running through the bones of the British body politic are on the brink of becoming full-scale breaks.

Theresa May’s party is fast smashing itself beyond repair. The increasingly eccentric behaviour of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Brexiteer rebels means not even a bodycast would keep the Conservatives intact. And Mrs May’s appeal for unity today will fall on deaf ears.

If there were a General Election tomorrow, the PM would find herself in the extraordinary position of campaigning against her own party.

And Tory MPs would have to speak out against their leader. That is why an election is unlikely. But in the chaos that is Westminster nowadays, it’s not impossible.

Which is also why Labour must be prepared for it. And for the few MPs tempted to break away from Jeremy Corbyn to think again.

Opinion polls suggest that Labour and the Tories are running neck and neck.

For Labour MPs to turn their backs on their party would be to snatch a catastrophic defeat from the jaws of a slender victory. We understand the frustration of these MPs. The threat of deselection hangs over them. Mr Corbyn has still not got to grips with anti-semitism.

They may well feel he should stop sitting on the fence over Brexit. But the fence is not a bad place to be while the Labour leader sees which side of it the Tories come down on.

This newspaper has reservations about some of Mr Corbyn’s twists and turns.

But we believe a Labour government led by him is still in the best interests of Sunday Mirror readers.

It would be a tragedy if a handful of MPs besotted by Brexit were to jeopardise that.

PHILIP Hammond might argue that the pub trade has never had it so good.