I've remarked in various places that the Labour Party is currently in such disarray that if Theresa May kicked off a general election campaign with an hour of drowning kittens on live television she'd still win by 100 seats, or words to that effect. It's basically Leo in The West Wing:
"To sweep all fifty states, the President would only need to do two things-- blow the Sultan's brains out in Times Square, then walk across the street to Nathan's and buy a hot dog."
Which is all good knockabout politics, although I don't hear anyone, _anyone_, whether in the pub or in a CLP meeting, who takes Labour winning in 2020 are requiring anything less than a multi-dimensional miracle.
Unfortunately it does bring up one grim thought to depress me (and I've stopped listening to Today, that's how bad it is). At the moment, there is little the Tories need fear with regard to losing an election, and on the current trajectory with an increased majority, too. Abolish all free education past the age of 11? Fifty quid to see a GP? Declare war on Switzerland and make the eating of Toblerone an act of treason? Whatever: they still win in 2020. There is almost no policy, no matter how toxic, that the Tories could enact which gets the current Labour front bench into office. All the Tories have to do is kick back, chill their beans, and weigh the ballot papers. Labour need a manifesto which challenges UKIP to the right in the north and the SNP to the left in Scotland without alienating London, and even were the party functional and led by an proven election winner that is almost impossible. The more likely dogs' breakfast in the manner of 1983 just means a massive defeat followed by a generation of in-fighting while the Tories celebrate by roasting poor people over an open fire.
Suppose, just suppose, that instead of seeking the glory of a 150 seat landslide, May decided to double down and run on a manifesto which wins by 50 seats but makes her the Thatcherites' eternal heroine by giving party faithful as much as they can possibly have, consistent with winning an election. Not just the Human Rights Act, but tear up PACE, Freedom of Information and the Data Protection Act ("red tape", "stopping the police doing their job"). Not just index linking of university fees, but uncapped, and while we're at it not only grammar schools in every city but post-16 education chargeable via loans. And just for shits and giggles criminalise abortion, bring back workhouses and repeal the Discrimination Act. Whatever: a scorched earth, salted fields, roll the country back to before the Great Reform Act extinction burst of atavism.
With a manifesto like that coming from the Tories, what would Labour do? Lose by fifty seats, that's what. Grim, isn't it?