Chilcot has underlined exactly why Labour needs Jeremy Corbyn - one of the brave few to oppose the Iraq War

At a time when the Labour Party is about to undergo a crisis of Desert Storm proportions, Corbyn is the one asset who could get them through it, a man whose morals are frustratingly unimpeachable. I mean, he doesn’t seem to want to bomb anyone

Jeremy Corbyn at a Stop The War protest in 2012 (Rex)

So it’s finally official. Blair’s reasons for invading Iraq were all li.... ah, sorry, I can’t use that word… were all “presented with a certainty that was not justified”.

All that remains now is to see how the Labour Party will somehow manage to blame Jeremy Corbyn for this. Perhaps they could try something like: if Corbyn hadn’t been so uncompromisingly against the war, and so damn left-wing, he wouldn’t have pushed all the self-respecting Blairites into backing it. But I think even the notorious Blairite spin doctors might have a problem with that one.

The fact is of course that Corbyn, staunchly anti-Iraq War and former chair of the Stop the War Coalition, is one of the few Labour top dogs to come out of the whole sorry mess with their reputation intact. At a time when the Labour Party is about to undergo a crisis of Desert Storm proportions, Corbyn is the one asset who could get them through it, a man whose morals are annoyingly and frustratingly unimpeachable. I mean, he doesn’t seem to want to bomb anyone.

Perhaps, now that I come to think of it, that’s why attempts to oust Corbyn came so soon before the publication of the Chilcot report. Could it be that the internal coup against Corbyn was nothing to do with Brexit at all but a convenient excuse to get Corbyn off the throne before the Chilcot findings were published? Perhaps, the thinking went, we should kick him out now while we still have the chance, and a slither of moral integrity left…?

That Corbyn became the scapegoat for Brexit was of course one of the more absurd twists in one of the most surreal weeks in British politics. The idea that someone could be blamed for lots of his supporters voting to leave because he wasn’t enthusiastic enough about staying was typical of the immaturity and mud-throwing that characterised the referendum.

So given that Corbyn is one of the few top Labour politicians to get through the last few weeks with no mud – or blood – on his hands, why are people still branding him unelectable? This is another absurdity to add on to the ever increasing pile. The phrase “Corbyn is unelectable” is testimony to the power of the mainstream media to dictate our thoughts. I hear it endlessly parroted by people who are putting about as much thought into what they are saying as… well… parrots.

“Corbyn is unelectable” – it was being said when he was scrabbling around for enough nominations to be put forward as a leadership candidate. “Corbyn is unelectable” – it was being said right through the leadership battle as thousands of new supporters rallied to Labour, attracted by the promise of a new style of politics. “Corbyn is unelectable” – it was brought out as a kind of sop to those licking their wounds when he won by a landslide. “Corbyn is unelectable” – despite all this, the phrase still springs to thousands of lips – and pens – at the mere mention of the name, after local elections and London mayoral wins for Labour under his leadership.

Perhaps now it is time to put this unthinking phrase to bed. Perhaps now we should start saying, “You know what? Maybe all evidence points to the idea that Corbyn is electable after all.” If nothing else, he has proved himself more worthy of election than any of the politicians who supported taking us to war, invading another sovereign country, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, all based on a tissue of l…. sorry, certainties that weren’t justified.

Perhaps the people who wanted him out before the Chilcot report were so set on a new leadership contest because they knew the inquiry would be the last nail in the coffin for a Labour as watered-down Toryism. Perhaps they keep saying he can’t win because they know how obviously they messed up in the past, and they’re scared.