Politics Explained: How did Labour come to renounce Jeremy Corbyn so quickly?

The former leader’s supporters seemed to have firm control of the institutions of the party, with the support of the mass membership, but it has evaporated fast

Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks to the media on the coronavirus pandemic outside the Finsbury Park Jobcentre, north London, on 15 March 2020. (PA)

All leaders look permanent until, suddenly, they are gone. But the revolution that Jeremy Corbyn wrought in the Labour Party seemed set to last longer than he did. He had amassed half a million members, and his supporters had taken control of the party’s annual conference, its ultimate sovereign authority, and its national executive, its day-to-day ruling body.

Yet the Corbynites have gone too. The party has changed completely. Despite promising to keep all of Corbyn’s policies, Keir Starmer has repudiated one of the defining qualities of Corbyn’s politics, its attempt to “yes but” its opposition to antisemitism, and he has asserted total control of the party.

Starmer now has a majority on the national executive, has appointed his own general secretary, and we will not find out how much the party’s annual conference has changed, because it has been cancelled this year and replaced by an online event called “Connected”.