Peter Mandelson warned recently that the leadership candidates were abandoning the successful tenets of New Labour. He got no thanks for it. Mandy can see that the majority of the Labour Party is in denial – Alastair Campbell actually denies Labour lost the election – and the party is lurching to the left as a consequence.

The leadership election illustrates the point; Diane Abbott is unashamedly of the hard-left, Andy Burnham says he is a socialist, Ed Balls is a deficit denier, Ed Miliband spouts meaningless nonsense “I pledge to ensure that we are a party of women as well as men” and left-wing clap-trap non-stop as he gloats about the burial of New Labour. Even Blairite David Miliband is talking left.

All good news for those of us who want to see the Labour Party become electorally irrelevant. That Labour’s membership numbers are apparently rising as lefties return is great news. They’ll demand that Labour “fights the cuts” when only a few months ago Labour was planning £50 billion of cuts. Blairite realists will be condemned as “collaborators”, they’ll accuse life-long liberals of being reactionary Tories. They will demand Labour Party support for, and solidarity with Unite strikers wrecking people’s summer holidays. Good news for those of us who want Labour to become the irrelevant third party. Guido is certain that many Labour activists will enjoy themselves far more in opposition…