Bill Carmichael: Labour's sinking feeling under Jeremy Corbyn

Corbyn was going to be let off the leash and encouraged to be himself. This was to be Corbyn unplugged and Jeremy was to be finally allowed to be the genuine, unvarnished, authentic Jeremy his followers always believed him to be.

His advisers, we were told, had learned the lessons of Brexit and the US election and were now ready ride the new wave of populism. According to Sky, one senior Labour figure said they were about to unveil a Trotskyist version of Donald Trump!

The centrepiece of this reboot was to be a complete U-turn on Labour’s open borders policy towards immigration. Stung by criticism from the Labour heartlands in the Midlands and the North, Corbyn would say in a major speech on Tuesday that the party was “not wedded” to free movement and immigration had to be managed.

Intrigued by the notion of a Trotskyist Trump, I tuned into BBC Radio 4’s Today interview with Corbyn. What followed was not so much a car crash as a multi-vehicle motorway pile up, plus the smoking wreckage of a couple of jumbo jets that fell out of the sky as they were flying overhead.

First Corbyn entirely rejected his party’s new policy on immigration, trailed with much fanfare less than 24 hours earlier. He made it clear he was not in favour of any limits on numbers – which amounted to a U-turn on his freshly announced U-turn.

He then cheerfully admitted he would join the picket line of striking rail workers who have caused untold misery among thousands of commuters in the south of England.

Finally, seemingly off the cuff, he announced a Cuban-style maximum pay cap that would limit how much an individual can earn. He was a bit vague on the details – apparently £137,000-a-year leaders of the Opposition would escape unscathed, but Premier League footballers would be clobbered.

So in a few short minutes Corbyn had committed Labour to unlimited immigration, a 100 per cent top rate of tax and unquestioning support for militant strikers.

Labour’s ship had been re-launched all right – but unfortunately all the seacocks had been left open and it had immediately sank to the bottom of the ocean.

The rest of the day consisted of Labour spinners desperately scrambling to undo the damage done by Corbyn in his morning interviews.

The pay cap policy came in for particular ridicule, with one left wing economist and former Corbyn adviser describing it as “idiotic” and “completely unworkable”.

It was junked almost as quickly as Corbyn had dreamt it up, and replaced with an idea to limit the ratios in salary between the highest and lowest paid in a company – not the same thing at all.

Jeremy had “misspoke”, we were told, although it didn’t sound like a slip of the tongue to me. In fact he expanded with enthusiasm on the pay cap at some length.

The party’s chaotic approach to immigration was an even harder nut to crack. The speech Corbyn was to deliver in the afternoon was rapidly re-written. But if the intention was to clarify matters it failed miserably.

Corbyn now said that the party was “not wedded” to free movement but then added: “Nor do we rule it out.”

Eh? So the party is not in favour of unlimited immigration, but it is not against it either. Clear as mud.

This formulation had experienced political correspondents scratching their heads in bafflement. What chance do Labour candidates have of explaining it on the doorstep?

I have voted Labour in the past but I can’t envisage supporting them now. I find their economic policy irresponsible and their support for Hamas and the IRA morally repugnant.

But let’s put politics aside for a moment. Are we not entitled to a basic level of managerial competence in a major political party? The ability to agree on a policy and stick to a consistent message for more than five minutes?

Labour is failing to do that and our democracy is badly damaged as a result.

Last week the Fabians warned Labour support could drop as low as 20 per cent. They way things are going, they’ll be lucky to match the Elvis Bus Pass party.