The 'left' was never in a position to challenge the 'right'. The staff and the majority of the PLP were resolutely against the Corbyn project. Thanks to the opposition of the unions and, in a futile attempt to keep the Party together, 'open selection', which might have changed the political orientation of MPs, was never adopted.

The 'failure' of the Corbyn project reveals for all to see the depths the 'establishment' is willing to sink to and the lengths it is willing to go to stop even a mild version of social democracy.

In truth, Corbyn did not pose much of a threat. But, his opposition to the Empire's wars was simply unacceptable.

You cannot simply insert a left wing leader at the top of a fundamentally establishment party and hope to succeed. The left at the grassroots was aspirational but not organisationally savvy.

You need to create the movement first. Then a Party can emerge out of that to carry the movement's aims forward. This happened with the emergence of the Labour Party out of the Trade Union movement. But, then it took two world wars and a depression for the Labour Party to achieve anything half decent.

To create a movement you need clearly defined aims. Like Brexit. Like Scottish independence (though that seems to be disappearing into the sands).

I can't see such a movement - with clear aims - coming from the left at the moment. The 'left' is too divided, too much of it wrapped up in identity politics, too much of it factional.

If some kind of movement does emerge it is more likely to come from the right, especially if economic conditions continue to deteriorate. There are convenient scapegoats in our midst.