PETER OBORNE: How Jeremy Corbyn was snared in the Brexit death trap

Experts predicted Theresa May and her Conservative party would experience an electoral massacre.

Certainly, the results were a stinging rebuff as they lost well over 1,000 council seats.

It was even more dreadful than predicted. But the Tories were always going to do badly because the last time these seats were fought had been a high water mark for them electorally – David Cameron’s general election victory of spring 2015.

However, Labour is also a big loser in these local elections.

However, Labour (Jeremy Corbyn is pictured) is also a big loser in these local elections

Experts predicted Theresa May (left) and her Conservative party would experience an electoral massacre. However, Labour (Jeremy Corbyn is pictured right) is also a big loser in these local elections

They should have scooped up barrowloads of votes considering we have the weakest Prime Minister in memory – and that news on polling day had been dominated by Tories being convulsed by recriminations over the sacking of Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.

The fact is that according to the iron rule of British politics, when a government is in trouble, the Opposition is bound to benefit. Yet Labour was hit by a series of hammer blows.

The party lost control of Bolsover District Council for the first time in more than 40 years. This is the Derbyshire former mining town that’s been represented in Parliament by the veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner since 1970.

Other key losses were the Wirral and Hartlepool councils – traditional Labour areas.

Overall, they lost more than 75 councillors and control of several local authorities. Gaining control of Trafford Council, a long-term target, was only a small compensation.

Almost as calamitous for Jeremy Corbyn was the fact that the biggest winners of the night were the Liberal Democrats, who had been written off as a political force with just 11 MPs.

Almost as calamitous for Jeremy Corbyn was the fact that the biggest winners of the night were the Liberal Democrats (Vince Cable is pictured), who had been written off as a political force with just 11 MPs

Almost as calamitous for Jeremy Corbyn was the fact that the biggest winners of the night were the Liberal Democrats (Vince Cable is pictured), who had been written off as a political force with just 11 MPs

Of course the Tories are still in deep trouble. But Thursday’s local election results are a brutal reminder that Labour is in no fit state to form a government.

Most pertinently, they expose the huge risk Mr Corbyn took at a meeting of the party’s governing National Executive Committee on Tuesday by not committing Labour to a second EU referendum.

Instead of doing so decisively, and thus pleasing the majority of party members who want a second vote, he sat on the fence, doubtless cynically hoping to appeal to Leave voters and Remainers at the same time. As so often has been the case with Mr Corbyn’s leadership, his cynicism and procrastination have done him no good.

His attempt to appeal to all sides has left him offending parts of both.

In the Brexit-supporting North East, voters abandoned Labour in droves. And in pro-Remain areas elsewhere, people who traditionally vote Labour defected to the Lib Dems, the Greens and other fringe candidates.

More worrying for Mr Corbyn, his flawed tactics are set to make matters more difficult for him.

Last week it emerged that Mr Corbyn wrote a favourable introduction to a shockingly anti-Semitic book, written by Left-wing author JA Hobson before the First World War but republished a few years ago

Last week it emerged that Mr Corbyn wrote a favourable introduction to a shockingly anti-Semitic book, written by Left-wing author JA Hobson before the First World War but republished a few years ago

There is no reason to expect Labour will do better in the European elections at the end of this month. Indeed, anecdotal evidence from canvassers suggests that Mr Corbyn himself is no longer popular.

This may be partly down to Labour’s crisis over anti-Semitism, which could intensify over the next month if the Equality and Human Rights Commission launches a full investigation.

And last week it emerged that Mr Corbyn wrote a favourable introduction to a shockingly anti-Semitic book, written by Left-wing author JA Hobson before the First World War but republished a few years ago.

In addition, while the Tories seem irrevocably split between ultra and soft Brexiteers, Labour is seriously split, too.

But the Tories have a disadvantage. They cannot agree on who should be Mrs May’s replacement.

By contrast, there is one plausible name on Labour MPs’ lips as a possible replacement for Mr Corbyn: His deputy Tom Watson.

This week, Mr Watson stormed out of a Shadow Cabinet meeting held shortly ahead of the NEC’s decision not to commit the party to back a second referendum.

Mr Watson is a supporter of what he calls a ‘People’s Vote’ and is frustrated with his boss’s refusal to commit to one. He has also warned that Labour will be beaten by the Brexit Party if it continues to ‘sit on the fence’ and offers only ‘mealy-mouthed’ support for a second referendum.

The 52-year-old Yorkshireman has transformed himself over the last few months.

Two years ago he was a 22-stone political thug with undoubted talents but a shambolic life and was often to be found in a pub. But he has now lost seven stone in little over a year.

By contrast, there is one plausible name on Labour MPs¿ lips as a possible replacement for Mr Corbyn: His deputy Tom Watson (pictured)

By contrast, there is one plausible name on Labour MPs’ lips as a possible replacement for Mr Corbyn: His deputy Tom Watson (pictured)

It doesn’t take a super-brain to work out that any politician who loses weight and spruces up their appearance (Boris Johnson is another example, having lost 12lb and with an uncharacteristically neat haircut) is part of their preparation to pitch for the top job.

Meanwhile, a summer of political destruction lies ahead.

Mrs May has promised to be gone within months. And the local election results mean Mr Corbyn is in deep trouble, too.

In the short term, fresh electoral catastrophe beckons for both main parties. It’s only three weeks until the European elections – the ones that Mrs May vowed would never happen.

A new menace will appear in the form of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which threatens to take away millions more Tory votes.

This takes us to the heart of the nightmare conundrum facing Mrs May and Mr Corbyn.

The Labour leader could agree a Brexit deal with the Prime Minister that would see both their parties fulfil the demands of the 2016 referendum result and take Britain out of the EU within weeks.

But if he does that, he would have thrown the Tories a lifeline and saved them from electoral wipe-out on May 23.

Most disturbingly for our country’s future, this week’s electoral results show that the leaders of the two main parties are stuck in a potential death-trap and neither has any clue how to get out.

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