Two weeks ago, when the Supreme Leader informed the country there was a realistic chance of Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister, everyone dismissed the idea as scaremongering. It now turns out she was acting on insider information.
Only she knew just how mediocre she really was and that her mediocrity would be inevitably found out. Only she knew that she was planning to release a totally uncosted manifesto with policies that would have to be ditched before the election even took place. Only she knew that she was strong and stable enough to turn a 24 point lead in the polls into a mere five.
With Tory candidates hastily erasing the Supreme Leader from their campaign leaflets and Labour candidates having to backtrack a little on their promise that it was OK for people to vote for them as there was no chance of them winning the election, Corbyn chose to resume campaigning after the Manchester bombing with a speech in central London on national security.
Many Labour supporters secretly feared the worst, wishing instead that Corbyn had followed the Conservative example of doing nothing for the day. That way, at least, nothing much could go wrong. Security hasn’t always been the Labour leader’s strongest suit and the potential for generating the wrong kind of headlines was obvious. With everything moving in his favour, why take the security risk? It felt a bit like the captain of the Titanic making it safely into New York, only to head back out in search of icebergs because the voyage had been too dull.
Not for the first time, Corbyn rather confounded his critics. After an impromptu minute’s silence for the Manchester victims that was observed by everyone apart from some of the photographers that swarmed around him, Corbyn began by condemning the atrocious violence that had taken so many young lives. He praised the police, firefighters, paramedics, doctors and nurses for the work they had done under such demanding circumstances and said the emergency services would get all the resources they needed under a Labour government.
It was the one of very few point-scoring digs at the Conservatives in the entire speech as, for the most part, he chose to rise above party politics. He didn’t seek to blame anyone but the bomber for the Manchester attack, only to try to provide a context for it and ended with the hope that the final two weeks of the election campaign could be conducted without name-calling or playing party politics. That was dashed within minutes when the defence secretary, Michael Fallon, took to the airwaves to condemn him for a speech he hadn’t made. Corbyn left without taking any questions. There would be more than enough of them from Andrew Neil later in the evening.
Unusually, Neil lobbed Corbyn a gentle loosener to start with by sounding incredulous that the Labour leader was making a link between terrorism and British foreign policy. Corbyn couldn’t believe his luck and used the opportunity to point out that he wasn’t alone in thinking this. Boris Johnson, two heads of MI5 and the foreign affairs select committee had come to pretty much the same conclusion. Who was he to disagree with such collective wisdom?
Ten minutes in, Neil finally realised the interview was in danger of being backed into a cul-de-sac and moved on to Corbyn’s support for the IRA. “I didn’t support the IRA,” Corbyn replied, slightly disingenuously. All he had ever wanted was an end to the armed struggle in Northern Ireland along with a cup of tea with Sinn Féin in the House of Commons.
Once the interview turned to domestic policy, Corbyn relaxed and became more like Mr Zen. The home stretch really was the home stretch. People liked his manifesto because it offered hope and whatever it cost – they argued over the exact sums – it had to be a price worth paying to make sure everyone had decent homes and schools and a health service that worked.
“Why should the people trust you?” Neil said. “Loads of your own MPs don’t.” Or didn’t when he was miles behind in the polls. A few more might now. Corbyn smiled. That was the whole point of an election. It was a choice, grasshopper.
As Neil wound up, Corbyn breathed easy. He hadn’t come out on top, but then no one did with Neil. That was the whole point of him. But he hadn’t been monstered like the Supreme Leader had on Monday. And that made it a victory of sorts.
