So the logic runs thus: Labour MP Margaret Hodge openly criticised her party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, in front of other MPs, accusing him of being an anti-Semite and a racist. She then received a letter from party HQ informing her she was under investigation for bringing the party into disrepute. Hodge responded with a robust lawyer’s letter. This is because she is determined to remain as an MP and, presumably, a Labour candidate at the next general election in order to campaign to make Jeremy Corbyn – whom she regards as a racist and anti-Semite, remember – Prime Minister.

Those are the battle lines. On one side, far Left socialists, red in blood and thought, isolated for decades from the political mainstream, now finding themselves in the driving seat of the main Opposition party, ready to put into action all of the Marx-inspired policies they started talking about in the students’ common room and never stopped since.

On the other side, moderate centre Left MPs and activists who believe the government is there to improve things, not foment revolution, who understand the inevitability of compromise and that the more orientated a party is towards the centre ground, the broader will its support base be.