LABOUR PARTY LEADERSHIP RACE: FORWARD, NOT BACK by Pay Waugh

* Paul Waugh

by Paul Waugh | Opinion

It was Jeremy Corbyn’s 99th rally last night and for his supporters it didn’t disappoint. As with many of his speeches, Corbyn’s appeal seems to be that he underwhelms rather than overwhelms his audience. 

John McDonnell (his oldest pal in Parliament and likely to be a key figure) told the crowd ‘we’ve delivered the victory already’. He also had a neat line summing up Corbyn’s unassuming nature: 'This is the sort of leader you want when you force them to become leaders.' 

Len McCluskey told the BBC that Corbyn had ‘already won’ in his eyes because he had ‘lit up’ the Labour movement. But the Unite boss at the rally last night also gave a withering verdict on Corbyn’s rivals: “I was listening to Liz and Yvette and Andy and I reached for the nearest, sharpest object so that I could slit my wrists.”

His most interesting line was that he’s ‘looking forward’ to the result, but for many the big question is whether he will take the party ‘forward, not back’, to cite Alastair Campbell’s famous 2005 general election slogan.

And the next battle royal will be over policy. Indy reports on the plotting that’s already begun to stop Corbyn taking policy leftwards. Jo Cox and Stephen Kinnock are among those wanting an alternative to the Blairite Labour for the Common Good group.

The Sun splashes on claims that Andy Burnham’s team took £5k to give a man posing as a donor ‘access’. Team Burnham insist no cheque was cashed. But perhaps the more embarassing bit for Burnham is his verdict on Corbyn: ‘Publicly, he is a nice man, a nice individual...Privately, it is a disaster for the Labour party.’ Given he’s keen on a job under Corbyn (Shadow Home Sec is the latest intel), will that quote haunt him?

It’s worth asking how much impact Corbyn will have on most people’s daily lives, even if they don’t know who he is. In the Tel, James Kirkup points out that ministers are divided on whether to attack him, ignore him or deride-and-then-steal his ideas, just as Osborne did on the living wage. As James points out, your morning coffee will soon cost more thanks to the NLW, without Ed Miliband ever having achieved office.

For Labour moderates, their best hope is victory for Tessa Jowell when the London Mayoral candidacy result is revealed at noon today. If she does win, we could see a curious reversal of the 2000 scenario: a Blairite and a lefty at odds, only this time one is leader and one wants to run London. Sadiq Khan had a big gap to close: did Corbynmania help him sneak it?

* Paul Waugh is the Executive Editor, Politics, HuffPost UK.