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The Sting was on the other night. It seems to be on most nights, as it happens.

You know the one? Paul Newman and Robert Redford, 1973. The theme music is The Entertainer.

I used to reckon it had my two ­favourite twists – the bit where they’re playing cards and the ending.

But this week the Labour Party ­suddenly came up with a move worthy of Redford and Newman.

It was the sort of tactic we’ve been waiting for for a long time. The Big Reveal. The Corbyn Gambit.

Where did that come from? Did Jeremy Corbyn dream it up on a ­sunbed? With one letter he transformed the landscape of what looked to be a summer drifting in one direction.

(Image: Getty Images)

He’s framed the upcoming general election, put the novice Lib Dem leader in a tough spot and – whisper it – ­almost, almost given his party a position they can get behind. No to no-deal.

Whatever you think we can do in terms of jobs, medicines, food and all that, we can’t leave without a deal. Don’t listen to the Americans.

His letter to fellow opposition parties makes them an offer they almost can’t refuse. And if they do refuse they look churlish and ridiculous.

Install the Labour leader as PM on a temporary basis, then have an election and sort Brexit.

It also does two things for Labour Remainers.

It unites them against the threat of no-deal. And it gives those who don’t like Mr Corbyn – and there are a fair few knocking around – a chance to get behind him while saving face.

Of course they can support him under these circumstances. The priority is avoiding no-deal.

Even MPs who don’t like Mr Corbyn think it’s a good idea. Even Edinburgh South’s Ian Murray, left, who shares the same attitude to Mr Corbyn as Dracula does to garlic bread, thinks this is a good move.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

And it causes problems for Jo Swinson and her Lib Dems.

One senior Lib Deb source said to me: “This has been the first call Swinson has had to make and it’s the wrong one.”

For a party that appeared to have turned the corner they now get wrapped back up in the old accusations of being too soft on the Tories. All the old demons are back.

It’s a straightforward question.

How can a party that embraced Tory austerity – a policy that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people and ruined countless lives – convince people that they’ve changed?

Not by turning down a chance to get rid of a Tory government. So the Lib Dems begin to look like the party of opportunists again.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

And various ­defectors signing up doesn’t help. You end up looking like a set of chancers.

We now see desperate attempts to wriggle out of the trap that’s been set and that they’ve drifted into.

The usual panicky excuses – we can’t vote for him because we don’t like anti-semitism.

But, here’s the thing, neither does he. So what else have you got?

They make another offer.

We’d be much better, says Jo Swinson, having Harriet Harman or Ken Clarke in charge.

Oh Jo. Jo, Jo, Jo, Jo, Jo. No Jo. No.