Corbyn is finally starting to look like a prime minister – but has he missed his chance?

The Labour leader struck a confident, measured but passionate tone as he unveiled his radical manifesto – but he may have run out of time to woo enough voters to kick Johnson out of No 10

Corbyn speaks at the launch of the Labour party election manifesto in Birmingham (AFP/Getty)

It’s taken him a while, but observers at the launch of Labour’s general election manifesto in Birmingham were forced to admit it – Jeremy Corbyn is starting to look a bit prime ministerial.

The sharp black suit, crisp white shirt and neatly trimmed beard were a far cry from the former off-duty geography teacher look which once prompted David Cameron to tell him to “put on a proper suit and do up your tie”.

And the confident, measured but passionate tone was streets apart from the sometimes rambling and hectoring tirades which were once his trademark.

When he first emerged onto the political frontline as Labour leader in 2015, Corbyn often seemed defensive and tetchy when subjected to tough questioning. A lifetime speaking to sympathetic audiences of comrades had apparently not prepared him for the harsh spotlight of the TV camera and the wall of abuse from the other side of the Commons.

But in Birmingham, he took suggestions that he was “a joke” who would take Britain “back to the 1970s” in his stride calmly and with self-deprecating good humour, quipping that he might be one of the few people in the room old enough to remember the Seventies.

Far from rabble-rousing, he stepped in when activists began to boo the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, insisting: “No, no, no. We don’t do that. All journalists will be heard with respect.”

Of course, a manifesto launch is home turf for a political leader, with a room full of activists eager to applaud and his shadow cabinet – interestingly minus Tom Watson, who is still nominally at least Corbyn’s deputy – lined up behind him willing him to do well.

The hall at Birmingham City University was also crammed with students – some hanging from balconies above to get a view and all ready to cheer him to the rafters as he promised an end to tuition fees and hinted that there might also be some help in the offing on the debts they have already accumulated.

But even with these advantages, other politicians have failed to deliver.

The fact that Corbyn performed strongly is a mark of how far he has come in honing a style that was once calculated to appeal to true believers only.

The big question is whether it has all come too late and whether Jeremy Corbyn has developed the presentational skills of a prime minister just weeks before losing his final chance to actually become one.

Yours,

Andrew Woodcock

Political editor