Jeremy Corbyn – he’d bring back Labour’s roots, but lose the 2020

But his opponents see him as a political dinosaur who stands for everything that made the party unelectable for a generation.

He said: “We haven’t got time, interest, inclination or energy to involve ourselves in personal abuse of anybody”.

He ran as an independent candidate in the last election, but felt he had to abandon his campaign and back Labour “in order to defend the NHS and protect the more vulnerable in society”.

Following the results, a panicked former Labour communications director under Tony Blair, Alistair Campbell, urged voters to choose “anyone but Corbyn“, saying his popularity was part of a “car crash” scenario that has engulfed Labour.

It recently rejected an application from Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who said he tried to become a registered supporter to highlight flaws in the system.

“I would be looking at a party which was simply so alien to my own views of what a Labour party is all about”, he said, adding: “I would certainly cease giving money to the party”.

One woman told me: “I don’t think it’s anything to do with the next election”. Just one solitary issue of the New Statesman.

“I went to the hustings in Birmingham and Corbyn was head and shoulders above the others. It is just Bennism reheated, a throwback to the past, not the change we need for our party or our country”. Corbyn will reverse that.

They spoke as Mr Corbyn’s leadership bid continued to gain momentum, following well-attended rallies in Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Leeds and elsewhere. “If it is, we might be understating Corbyn’s support”.

Ms Kendall said Mr Corbyn’s policies were not what the country needs.

Joan Ryan, the Enfield North MP who assumed the role this week, told The Jewish Chronicle: “We hope that Labour party members and supporters will consider when they vote which candidate is best placed to ensure that the next Labour government can play a constructive and engaged role in the crucial search for a two-state solution”.

The result of this process-however unintended-was a new and big audience receptive to Mr Corbyn’s decades-old arguments about capitalism, the welfare state and Britain’s place in the world.

Mr Sheerman said although he may be able to pick up some “usual suspects”, many others would not be detected.

Former city council deputy leader Paul Shotton, along with Joy and Martin Garner are among Yvette Cooper’s local supporters.

“We’ve got huge challenges ahead of us”.

And the answer to that isn’t moving even further to the left, so this leadership debate is something party supporters need to think long and hard about – do they want to be in power in 2020 or do they want a left-wing leader?

Labour party officials have been at pains to explain to me that there could be many reasons for those taking advantage of this option to have a vote without actually being a member.