So, Jeremy Corbyn.

I…don’t know. Don’t know. I’m still reeling from the audacity of his victory; it wasn’t a sneaking past the post on second or third preferences, it wasn’t a tidal wave of entryism. It was the Labour Party en masse reaching up to the PLP and saying: “You lot. Sod off.”

And the scale of that victory will buy him some time. Even the PLP isn’t insane enough to start a coup before the May elections (note: you’ll never go broke betting on the insanity of the Blairite factions, but I think even they have to realize they can only go to decapitation if May is a disaster).

I think the Tories may soon discover that their traditional ‘slander early and often’ approach may not work with a leader that doesn’t believe in focus groups or PR in general. And that there may be a Johnson/Farage effect as Corbyn gets TV time talking like a human being instead of the usual political contortions.

Having said that, there’s a huge amount on Corbyn’s past that we’re going to be hearing, and not all of it is going to be good. And yes, some of what the Tories are going to drag out is going to be distortion. Sound and fury designed to win the spin cycle by selectively quoting old bits of Hansard. But let’s not kid ourselves either; some of those quotes are not going to be edited. In the tradition of the UK Left, there will be reflexive anti-Americanism, including support of regimes that are neither democratic or humane. And yes, the current Government will be hypocrites when they tweet these things, but that will not automatically absolve Corbyn, and it will not be mentioned on the BBC news reports.

And then there’s the electoral calculus. Two of the reasons Miliband put in such a dismal showing were the collapse of Labour to the SNP in Scotland, and the slaughtering of the Lib Dems in the South West by the Tories (in addition, obviously, to not exactly lighting fires elsewhere). If Scottish Labour plays ball with the new management in Westminster, I can see some SNP seats returning back to Labour. But not as many as they once had. I don’t see much conversion in the South West, though. Maybe breakthroughs elsewhere will be enough?

Whatever happens, there’s no longer any hiding for the Left. For years, we’ve hidden behind what-ifs, and if-onlys. We have everything we’ve said we’ve always wanted: a proper left-wing leader of the Labour Party, somebody who believes in the ideals of Hardie, Attlee, and Bevan. No more excuses, no more half-hearted attempts. The Great Experiment begins…