James Reed: In Corbyn's world Labour is sailing toward election victory

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn with Labour supporters at Garforth Leisure Centre. Picture: by Simon Hulme

Memories were evoked of the dying days of the 2015 election campaign and then Labour leader Ed Miliband unveiling a tablet of stone – later  dubbed the EdStone – inscribed with the party’s main pledges that he  was apparently intending to install in the Downing Street  rose garden in the event of victory.

Surely things could not have got so desperate for Labour that they could be bringing back an election stunt which was hardly a spectacular success the first  time around?

To the relief of all concerned, the van’s presence was unconnected to the visit of Labour’s current leader and there was no giant tablet for Mr Corbyn to unveil as he arrived on the party’s battlebus.

Of course, in Mr Corbyn’s world there is no need for tablets of stone or any other election stunt because all is going well and the party is sailing towards a victory on June 8 that will stun pollsters, pundits and the media elite.

Asked about the likelihood of Labour winning in Conservative-held Elmet and Rothwell, the constituency covering Garforth, given it failed two years ago, Mr Corbyn advised journalists to “speak to the people, not the pollsters”.

He did so surrounded by well-wishers interrupting interviews to shout their support in response to any suggestion that all might not be well, as the Labour leader maintains, and demanding selfies and autographs from the man himself.

Speak to those people and they are in no doubt Mr Corbyn is the right person to be Prime Minister and that his arguments will prevail.

But those polls Mr Corbyn dislikes suggest much of the public, not to mention many within his own party, remain to be convinced.

Maybe Mr Corbyn should try a stone tablet – the JezStone.