Ayesha Hazarika: Oi, Corbyn trolls '“ give it a rest

Jeremey Corbyn promised a kinder, gentler politics - Ayesha Hazarika asks where it is. Picture: Getty Images

The Labour party has had a rough week. Despite a bullish national campaign launch yesterday, the party Âsuffered a depressing set of local election results, including losing ÂGlasgow City Council, failing to win the Âmayoral races in the West Midlands and Tyne Tees and the latest polls give the Conservatives a 22 point lead. I know there will be people yelling about not trusting the polls, but you have to admit, this doesn't exactly look rosy for Labour.

It must be said that the LibDems also failed to make a much-hyped revival with their anti-Brexit stance. The SNP remained ahead of the pack in local elections but the Tories made some significant breakthroughs and Labour, which once dominated local councils across Scotland, were even further behind.

You know things are in a bad place when John McDonnell and Iain Duncan Smith both use the same media script. “This is not a foregone conclusion… *coughs*… This is a REALLY tight race and there’s everything to play for… *splutters*”

The Tories need to guard against complacency: people not bothering to turn out to vote as they think it’s in the bag or they think a vote for Corbyn won’t matter; and Labour need to beg for every vote in the land, particularly as we learn of a new strategy from the Labour leadership designed to help prop up Corbyn in the event of a heavy loss.

Instead of focusing on winning parliamentary seats, which is the raison d’etre of a political party, team Corbyn will use share of the national vote as the benchmark by which to judge the leader’s performance. This is so Corbyn can hang on. But we knew that. His team are briefing that if he matches or betters Ed Miliband’s figure of 30.6 per cent he should stay – even if the party loses a significant number of seats.

They also cite Neil Kinnock as a precedent for clinging on, saying Corbyn needs more time to “transform” the party. But, as George Eaton of the New Statesman points out, when Kinnock stayed on after the 1987 election, he had gained 20 seats and 3.2 per cent of the vote.

Watching the national election campaign launch reminded me of the launch of Corbyn’s last winning contest – when he beat Owen Smith in the ill-advised coup last summer. It is interesting also that Corbyn is visiting safe Labour seats – it almost feels like he’s mobilising his base of supporters as an insurance policy for any post-election challenge, especially as a recent YouGov poll has 68 per cent of Labour members saying Corbyn should quit if his party loses the election.

But that joy is for after 8 June. There is of course still deep division in the Labour party between those who support Corbyn and those who don’t, aka Blairites or Red Tory Scum. Now it’s one thing to have that ding-dong with each other, but when that row spills over to the public I think we have an even deeper problem.