Jeremy Corbyn’s first seven days as leader of the Labour party have been “catastrophic”, says Dan Hodges in The Daily Telegraph. There’s been his “surreal appearance” at Prime Minister’s Questions, for which he crowdsourced questions, a “shambolic reshuffle”, two “rambling, incoherent speeches”, and his “politically toxic” decision not to sing the national anthem at the Battle of Britain memorial service.
This was a week the like of which the political class has never seen. But it does not mean an era of new politics has begun, says The Times. There are already signs that the fresh approach that won Corbyn support is faltering. He has had to clarify that Britain will not leave Nato and that Labour will campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has apologised for his remarks praising the provisional IRA, and Corbyn has said he will sing the anthem in future, belatedly accepting that someone in his position needs to “conform to certain standards of decorum”.
It’s hardly surprising that the early days of his leadership have been “chaotic”, says Seumas Milne in The Guardian. This is a “spontaneous campaign… powered by grass-roots volunteers”, which has placed an “unapologetic socialist” at the head of one of Britain’s two main parties forthe first time in decades. His evident “lack of spin and professional political chicanery” is part of his appeal. Corbyn’s most serious challenge, aside from a “frenetically hostile media”, will come from his own MPs.
True, say Tim Shipman and James Lyons in The Sunday Times. Having “snubbed the media” and overseen a reshuffle that saw the “most extreme economic voice” in parliament made shadow chancellor and Corbyn “excoriated” for freezing women out of senior roles, thoughts “turned to regicide”. It was at his first Parliamentary Labour Party meeting that doubts among MPs “calcified”.
As one said, “we’re used to having leaders who are forensically focused on campaigning, who think constantly about strategy, the message they want to deliver… All that stuff is completely alien to him.” The criticism sunk in. By the end of the week, Corbyn had hired Neale Coleman as his head of rebuttal and Kevin Slocombe, a former union spin doctor, as his spokesman.
“The impact was swift,” says Ian Burrell in The Independent. McDonnell issued his apology and Corbyn wrote a piece for the Financial Times about his economic policy. Despite his avowed distaste for the media, Corbyn appears to have accepted that, without it, his message will be lost.
But firing up enthusiasm beyond his party looks set to be a struggle, says The Times. In a YouGov survey only 17% thought it likely he could be prime minister, and just 25% trusted Corbyn and McDonnell to manage the economy. “No leader has ever recovered from such low ratings… Early as it is, it is hard to see how he comes back from here.”