This week’s out of court settlement of the case between the LAB party and some of its former employees has put the spotlight once again on former leader Corbyn who twice led to the party to general election defeats. The decision by Corbyn himself to attack the party over this is a reflection that Labour’s internal wars are ongoing.

A real problem that the Corbyn backers have to acknowledge is that their man was the main driver of votes switching from LAB to the Tories.

The above on the day poll finding by Opinium did not get the coverage it deserved at the time but it is worth highlighting now for it very much undermines the position of those in the movement still supporting Corbyn. The pollster, Opinium, came out of that election having produced the most accurate final poll.

The chart says it all. The main reason why Johnson did so well was not Brexit but the widespread view about Corbyn. By December 12th last year the Labour had become electoral poison especially to traditional backers in traditional strong Labour supporting areas. In the north of England, the so called “red Wall”, 48% of those LAB voters who switched said the party leader was the main driver.

This also puts Johnson’s performance into context.

Mike Smithson