Bernard Ingham: Full Marx for a vision to bankrupt us, Mr Corbyn

As a one-man disaster area, he evokes that mournful hymn sung at the FA Cup final, “Abide with me, fast falls the eventide”.

Yet he puts on an air of Sunny Jim as if the electors see his ideas as God’s gift to the proletariat.

We have to ask whether this man lives in a world of his own and is suffering from delusions brought on by the class-war addicts who surround him and will do their best to make sure he remains party leader, even after the expected election massacre on June 8.

He may be the acceptable, stubbled face of the hard left, Trots and Len McCluskey, the Unite union leader and Corbyn’s paymaster. But he is really a genuine throwback not just 50 years but to the 19th century and Karl Marx, his “eternal Father strong to save” us all from a fate worse than death.

Marx had at least something going for him in the 19th century when Merrie England was much less merry than it is now.

Yet, in spite of Communism having failed, Corbyn aims at a socialist state with renationalisation, cosseted unions, taxing the rich until the pips squeak and unlimited benefits, even for layabouts. Oh, yes, and a welcome on Dover’s mat to the “downtrodden” from the world over.

I am surprised he did not yesterday promise a food bank in every town and soup kitchens for the millions in poverty he somehow conjures up in one of the richest countries in the world with a highly developed (and exploited) social conscience.

If you still think he knows what he is doing, just look at his proposals for financing his splendid bonanza for every manifestation of Tory-induced poverty he sees around him.

Some poverty, what with telly, fridge, freezer, washing machine, dishwasher, oven and bathroom, not to mention central heating.

We should be alarmed that the latest think tank estimates suggest that he proposes to spend £93bn a year for five years but will raise at best only £63bn a year. Over and above that, he proposes to borrow £250bn for infrastructure.

Has he never heard of our £50bn budget deficit and a rapidly rising national debt approaching £1.8 trillion (thousand billion)?

Ye gods. As leader of the Responsible Party (so far six known supporters) it doth amaze me that anybody could be so irresponsible with our money.

But perhaps the most serious aspect of all this is how on earth Labour has been reduced to such ridicule, bringing the prospect of continuing ineffective opposition.

Is it a reaction to the “centrist” governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who made a fine mess of it? Is it just a phase, the most serious yet, that Labour is going through as in the past with the Bevanites, the CND crowd and a naive leader like Michael Foot?

Or could it be simply down to the incredibly stupid Ed Miliband undoing all Neil Kinnock’s good work in taming the militants with his £3 Labour membership fee?

That gave an opening to the hard left who now have moderate Labour MPs quaking in their boots over de-selection and will seek to ensure that Corbyn remains party leader even if he is electorally massacred next month.

I think the Labour Party must wonder whether it knows how to rescue itself, having fallen into the hands of Momentum. Where is the “shining light amid the encircling gloom”?

Where are the potential leaders of the calibre of Clem Attlee, Arthur Greenwood, Ernest Bevin, Hugh 
Gaitskell and, yes, Harold Wilson who wore himself out holding his party together?

The current deputy leader, that conspiracy theorist called Tom Watson? You must be joking. Hilary Benn, who has disappeared from view? Yvette Cooper, who would be a reaction to the Tories being on their second woman leader? I think not, assuming she survives the election

Chuka Umunna, who did not have the guts to fight for the leadership in 2015? Well, he would be Britain’s first non-white party leader. But what has he done to commend himself to the people?

This poverty of talent is an indictment of the stewardship of the Labour Party in the 21st century.

They have no “eternal father strong to save”. Indeed, they do not know whether their “redeemer liveth”. The darkness deepens. Lord with me abide.