It was inevitable that a Corbyn would eventually emerge from the Labour back benches

BY the time this letter has been digested I expect one Jeremy Corbyn to be head of a parliamentary Labour Party much more shattered than already was the case. As Doug Maughan’s letter (September 11) reiterates, Mr Corbyn is a socialist. Also, as Mr Maughan says, Mr Corbyn “brings some good ideas into debate. Unfortunately, he also brings a host of madcap ideas and is unelectable as prime minister”. The latter may be arguable since what constitutes madcap ideas is often down to the judgment of the media, and many are those who have arrived in high office with baggage of not only mad but bad ideas, and were quick to convert them to deeds. Many would describe Margaret Thatcher as an extremist whose madcap ideas decimated Britain’s precious manufacturing base. That also included in her baggage were some good ideas is something else.

Mr Corbyn is what many would opine prime opposition material. But in the context of a Labour Party that sold its soul to ideas alien to its origins, it was almost unavoidable that someone had to emerge from the Labour back benches where the actual opposition has been waging a futile bleat retreat for years. Among the document-wagging Dennis Skinners has been such a person, Mr Corbyn. I am sure he has no “lust for power” as Mr Maughan’s letter says of Labour party has become (“nothing more than a vehicle for professional politicians with a lust for power”).