The defining moment of the 2017 Labour Party conference was not the evangelical church that Jeremy Corbyn addressed on Wednesday. It was the speech on Tuesday of Mr Corbyn’s captive prisoner, deputy leader Tom Watson. For two years Mr Watson has been promising the cognoscenti that his political prowess would ward off the Corbyn takeover. Some incomprehensible committee-fixing solution was always being pledged. As he, sadly and forlornly, sang “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn” on the conference floor in Brighton, Mr Watson must have known that the game was up and the party was over.

The Labour Party is a coalition in which factions compete for control. For most of its history its right wing has been in charge, a state of affairs the left has accepted