New party please: Goodbye Labour. It’s been nice knowing you

Ignore the smug nonsense being run by the New Yorker, saying that British politics is a disgrace and a bad joke. Incidentally, in that piece being shared by grieving British Remainers this week it is stated that David Cameron hoped to hang around until November. That’s not true and it is surprising to see such a basic mistake in the first paragraph of a piece in the hallowed US magazine that employs an army of fact-checkers. The reality rather than the liberal myth is that from the turmoil and drama of recent weeks the Tories have emerged with a strong leader and a mandate to deliver Brexit. While challenges lie ahead, once again, largely by accident and low cunning, the Tories have ended up in a good place.

The party that is in a bad place, the party that is a bad joke, is the opposition Labour party. But the joke is no longer funny. For anyone who believes that the UK needs a competitive democracy, and that the UK needs a sensible centre-left, moderate party to give the Tories a run for their money, what has unfolded is a tragedy. Tonight is most likely the death of the Labour party as we know it.

After hours of meetings today, Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee voted 18-14 to put the disastrous Jeremy Corbyn, the worst political leader in British history, on the ballot paper automatically in the imminent leadership race. This means he does not need the backing of 51 MPs to be included. He goes forward automatically and will almost certainly win and remain leader.

This is Christmas come early for Theresa May, because Corbyn’s supporters are so deluded that they cannot tell the difference between popularity among Corbynista party members and the English electorate. Even if they care about that at all, many seem to prefer a Trot fantasy. Labour will be crushed under Corbyn and them, which is why the bulk of the party’s MPs and Peers need to wake up immediately and set up their own moderate party. Labour must split, for the good of the country. Leave Corbyn and his SWP drongos and useful idiots to it.

Real Labour, the moderates, will have to abandon all that ludicrous Labour sentimentality, the weeping and wailing as though it’s an episode of Coronation Street, and just get on with a cool head forming a new sensible centre-left party. I’ll write more tomorrow about the implications, about how this might be done, and about why it matters even if you are not a Labour voter.