Ayesha Hazarika: work now starts for Jeremy Corbyn and Labour

Labour party Leader Jeremy Corbyn can allow himself a thumbs-up after the election (Photo: Getty Images)

This election was nothing if not madly interesting and ripped up so many so-called golden rules about politics. Politics has gone all David Brent – the only rules are there are none. Nervous laugh.

I was in the busy, bustling media hub at ITN’s studios with the great and the good from the world of commentating who were sipping wine, laying out their laptops and discussing what time to order taxis to get some sleep as it there was no question that there would be a Tory majority.

Then that exit poll dropped. As did every single jaw in the room. I’m surprised no one has sued ITN for an accident in the workplace.

As we had got it wrong for Brexit (although I did predict it), we all collectively overestimated Theresa May and underestimated Jeremy Corbyn.

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As someone who was sceptical about Jeremy Corbyn and who feared he would get Labour spanked at a general election, I’ve literally face-planted myself in humble pie since the wee hours of Friday morning.

Have to say, it’s quite moreish. I was pleased to be wrong and I’m not the only one. David Prescott (son of John and who works for Corbyn) tweeted a picture of a pie with the word “HUMBLE” on it (see what he did there) and my former boss Harriet Harman retweeted with the correct response “Delicious!”

But not everyone in my wing of the party (which is pretty broad and includes the Blairites, Brownites and those of no religion) feels quite the same way and some are struggling to come to terms with how well Corbyn did.

I get that he didn’t win but we didn’t get wiped out which was what was on the cards. Labour gained seats across the country and one of the highlights was seeing seven Labour MPs elected in Scotland – a vital toehold and platform from which to build.

And the Labour Scottish group in Westminster is about to get way more fun for poor Ian Murry who has done a sterling being there on his tod for the last two years.

The result has also sent a signal that people in Scotland are not as fixated with the prospect of Indyref2 as the SNP are – a view which I expressed to Tommy Sheppard only recently when we had filmed an election blind date for the Victoria Derbyshire show. And the election has also most certainly disrupted a hard Brexit.

But some within Labour are acting like Theresa May just scored a three-figure landslide, signed a stonking deal on the Customs Union and just found a massive scroll of goatskin in the spare room.

“That’s IT, I’m leaving the party,” dramatically huffed one, red-faced, as the exit poll was still on the screen at the ITN Media Hub.

“Don’t leave yet, I reckon there’s pizza on its way…” “The LABOUR PARTY you idiot” he bellowed. Oh.

Look. It’s definitely tough to hold your hands up and say that you didn’t get everything right, especially when you’re the kind of person who’s always really certain of your intellectual and political magnificence, but just a splash of self-awareness and graciousness would help ease the pain.

I was at a party on Saturday with lots of Blairites. Most people said they had been shocked but then re-discovered the genuine simple joy of watching the Tories suffer humiliation in real time live on telly. For others, it wasn’t so easy. I’ve had people who always counselled wisely and calmly “never fight the electorate”, now declaring voters stupid and weird.

And some who always said the issue was unelectibility, now feel it’s the idea of him having a shot which they can’t bear. Moderates need to be magnanimous.

But the so called “winning” team, the Corbynistas do need to remember that Labour didn’t actually win. Team Corbyn ran an exciting, vibrant campaign, but they still have a big job to connect with working-class voters and win more seats. The Tories will pick a better leader next time and won’t run such a stinker of a campaign.

If Corbyn is serious about being PM and the Blairites/Moderates are serious about another Labour government then there needs to be a settlement. We need the best brain and brawn in the party joining forces because if there is another election soon, this could be the best shot Labour has for some time.

Labour’s popular manifesto will be scrutinised much more ruthlessly next time round and instead of young Corbyn guns terrorising “Red Tory Scum” on Twitter, reaching out could be a good thing. While some would love to cart us all off to the gulag, that’s not the best way for Labour to make progress.

Asking Cooper and Umunna to serve would send a bold, timely reminder that we have more in common than not. Closing the circle doesn’t always make for good politics as we have just seen with May’s approach and beware hubris before nemesis. But on my side, we do need to accept, it’s not 1997 any more and that things have moved on. But things could actually get better, if we pull together.

Team Corbyn can do what they like now to be honest. They may have lost the election but they have won the party and that makes him our strong and stable leader for the foreseeable future despite the glumbuckets within the party. But I hope he thinks critically and looks to analyse the results and build on the progress. Labour did well amongst the young and the middle classes but has a way to go to win more traditional, working-class voters.

With Brexit negotiations about to start and a historic Queen’s speech on the horizon, if they can find that goatskin (honestly), he needs to show that as well as being a great campaigner, he can be a great leader in Parliament too.

The current Prime Minister may have had a warm reception at the 1922 Committee on Monday night, but Tories and still seething and will nurse their wrath. She is on borrowed time as she starts negotiating with Europe as a laughing stock and cobbles together this embarrassing deal with the DUP. She lost her majority and took her party backwards.

Now she’s dragging the country backwards too with this deal with a party with such questionable attitudes particularly on abortion rights. Welcome to the Hand Maidenhead’s Tale. No-one saw that coming and Team Labour need to be ready to fight her all the way.