I was recently running over a familiar topic with some university friends of mine whose views on Labour are a lot more Blairite than my own. I wanted their perspective on Owen Smith’s rise from nothingness to Labour leadership candidate and whether Corbyn should be consigned to the dustbin of recent Labour history. “Do you think that the previously anonymous Smith would be a better leader that Jeremy Corbyn?” was my question.

They looked back at me, exasperated at my impossible naivety. “Charlie,” they laughed, “anyone would be better than Jeremy Corbyn.” And therein lies the rub. Smith does not seem to inspire anyone on the basis of his policy, charisma or his vision of a new, progressive Britain. Instead, those who believe Corbyn has ripped apart their beloved party, united in desperation, are willing to turn to anyone in their time of need and make them their hero. Owen Smith is little more than a political vulture, feasting on the remains of Corbyn’s career.

If Smith finds himself ruling over the Labour party, he will find himself forever battling the feeling that, like Ben Affleck’s Batman, he is the hero that no one actually really wanted.

I didn’t join the Labour Party in 2015 to vote for Jeremy Corbyn, although I had watched with fascination as a mixture of general New Labour fatigue and a membership spike brought Blair’s project to a final, shuddering halt. Fuelled mainly by the enthusiasm of young people who felt that the ideologies of the two main parties were becoming inseparable, Corbyn’s plain-speaking style even won over my profoundly apolitical father: “I do just love the way he’s so honest.”

Corbyn has made mistakes. He is decidedly not the perfect Labour leader. He is not a natural orator and his leadership has been tainted by such debacles as Thangam Debbonaire’s stunning revelation that she was both hired and fired by the Labour leader without ever being informed that this was the case. The good news is Theresa May has stated that there is no plan for a snap election while Brexit’s aftermath looms over the country. Corbyn has time to learn from these errors, and legitimise his programme. Labour MPs who have the gall to sniff at Labour’s membership numbers, the best in decades, claiming they are one-time voters who are doing nothing for the party, do so while plotting against their own leader. It’s hardly inspiring.

Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Show all 8 1 /8 Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith clash at a leadership hustings in Gateshead, where Mr Smith was scarcely able to answer a question without being booed by Mr Corbyn’s supporters PA Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith “Jeremy himself admitted he was seven out of 10 in terms of his faith in the European Union. He said it,” said Mr Smith during his second live debate with Jeremy Corbyn Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Ballot papers are currently due to be sent out on 22 August and returned a month later, with the result being announced at a special Labour conference on 24 September Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Jeremy Corbyn supporters cheer and wave placards as the Labour Leader addresses thousands of supporters in in Liverpool, England Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour Party leadership candidate Owen Smith poses for a picture with supporters during a picnic for young members in London Fields, Hackney in London Getty Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith The Labour leader has a spring in his step at a leadership rally in Sunderland Screenshot Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Labour leadership contender Owen Smith delivers a speech at the Open University in Milton Keynes, where he promised to reverse Conservative cuts set to leave millions of low paid workers thousands of pounds a year worse off PA Labour leadership contest: Jeremy Corbyn vs Owen Smith Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has urged Owen Smith to distance himself from those saying they want to split the Labour party Getty

Democratic choice wasn’t respected the first time. If Corbyn wins his second election, the engineering of coups and petty infighting must stop. A theoretical election in 2020 would give Corbyn the confidence to push forward with the grassroots projects that he has always claimed will bring him election victory, and his plans for a National Education Service seem promising. He must push for a swell in votes from young people and those around the country whose communities have suffered under Cameron and Osborne’s dogmatic adherence to austerity, but didn’t feel represented by Brown or Miliband. Provided his own party get behind him, Corbyn has a genuine chance of being Prime Minister. Stranger things are happening in politics. Just cast a glance over to our American brothers and sisters across the pond for proof of that fact.