Rachel Sylvester has coined a useful term in this morning’s Times to describe the hard-left online wing of the Labour Party: “Digital Bennism”. She says Miliband is facing his biggest challenge yet in standing up to his very noisy lefty critics:

Unite, is threatening to withdraw funding amid a vitriolic campaign on Twitter and blogs from leftwingers who oppose the Shadow Cabinet.

LabourList has been inundated with comments calling for Mr Byrne to resign or be sacked. “Byrne should burn,” said one, while others condemned him as “delusional”, an “idiot” and “the weakest link”. Mr Miliband was accused of abandoning Labour’s core principles by failing to stand up for “those who are being victimised” and allowing his party to be “hijacked by new Labour or Tory lite”. At one point John Reid, the Blairite former Cabinet minister, intervened in the online discussion to ask: “Is this a Labour Party website or have I clicked on a SWP one by mistake?”

Blogs, Twitter and Facebook give this deluded faction a much stronger platform than they used to achieve with a banner and a crap chant. It’s worth noting that most of the leading left-wing blogs are “proudly sponsored” by union gold…