Curiously Paul Mason’s confidante to whom he slags off Corbyn is the Podemos’ foreign affairs chief, Pablo Bustinduy. Podemos is Spain’s radical left party, where we have just seen the ousting of the rival socialist party leader Pedro Sánchez by his own party. In Spain socialists can apparently organise a coup.

Mason is tweeting all manner of excuses and throwing up all kinds of diversory chaff to cover his embarrassment. His timeline is a joy to behold.

@paulmasonnews we still think you’re dead principled calling for us MPs to be deselected for saying in public what you say in private..

— John Woodcock (@JWoodcockMP) October 13, 2016

The ramifications of this for the Court of Corbyn are magnificent. Milne will now be able to cite Mason’s disloyalty and lack of faith as a means to marginalise him. McDonnell will seethe that an ally like Mason is now without doubt passing him over for the younger, prettier Clive Lewis to be Corbyn’s successor. After Unite’s internal elections in 2018 the expectation is that McCluskey, having secured his own re-election, will decide to flex Unite’s financial and organisational muscle to put someone more competent and electable in as Labour’s leader. That is what Owen Jones means when he caveats his support for Corbyn as conditional….