'This is the end of the road for Jeremy Corbyn' claims Lancashire's former deputy leader

I have never thought that Jeremy Corbyn would become prime minister. I don’t say this with any pleasure – I have been a member of the Labour Party for 40 years and still believe that a Labour Party upholding the culture, values and principles that I associate with the organisation is the country’s best option when it comes to who governs us.

The party that founded the NHS, the welfare state, introduced equal pay for women, the minimum wage, established Sure Start, agreed the biggest investment into education in modern history, and much, much more, has been hijacked by bullies, keyboard warriors and extremists who have coalesced around Jeremy Corbyn in the hope that they can use the trusted Labour brand as a Trojan horse to win power.

That their bluff has now been called by seven courageous MPs who have chosen to walk away from a party they no longer recognise now offers an opportunity for the leadership to ask itself if it wants to be in permanent opposition – or if it is brave enough to challenge those who have infected the party, and rid the organisation of their poison.

If he is to have any chance of snatching the keys to number ten Downing Street, Corbyn needs to hold his party together – and offer those who refuse to sign up to the tribalistic, cultist culture that has grown up around his leadership a clear signal that he believes in a ‘broad church’ organisation; a tolerance of those who don’t necessarily agree with Momentum dogma on everything, but who still crave a Labour government.

The seven MPs who decided to resign their Labour memberships this week may prove to be the catalyst for the beginning of the end for Corbyn.

Or they may have created a fear within the party’s hierarchy that will make them rethink their position on the fundamental issues that are at the core of the Labour split.

Two issues top that list.

Firstly Brexit.

More than 80 per cent of party members oppose the UK withdrawal from the EU and support a ‘people’s vote’.

You would have to be beyond blinkered to deny that the Labour frontbench tactic on the most fundamental policy area of our times has been to facilitate Theresa May’s decision to run down the clock in the hope of forcing her ‘blind’ Brexit deal through.

This simply cannot continue if Corbyn is to have any chance of retaining the faith of literally thousands of his members and dozens of his MPs.

Secondly, and more remarkably, there needs to be a genuine effort to tackle antisemitism in the party.

How an organisation founded on the principle of equality and with a proud history of fighting racism has stood back and allowed a female Jewish MP to be abused and bullied out of the party is unfathomable.

Corbynistas may comfort themselves with the old adage that ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’.

Perhaps ‘he who must be obeyed’ may reflect on another saying though – ‘change or die’. I know from private conversations I have held with many Labour MPs in Westminster that there are dozens of them who feel the same alienation as the newly formed Independent Group.

My sense is that, post-Brexit, many will see no reason to hang around to facilitate the further infection of their party by people who would have been barred from Labour membership pre-Corbyn.

If the leader of the opposition is not able to demonstrate that he has taken the concerns raised by Luciana Berger, Chuka Umunna and their colleagues who ripped up their party cards this week seriously, then the threat of a new political

movement, swelled by disillusioned mainstream Labour supporters, will condemn him and his organisation to years in the wilderness. It was where Corbyn spent most of his political career.

If he’s not careful, its where he’s heading back to sharpish.

The decision of the seven MPs to exit could shake the Labour Party back to its senses.

Or it could be the first step towards the new kind of political movement that they want to establish.