Kinnock says there’s “no logic” to a Labour split – but suggests Corbyn could face challenge

Neil Kinnock has said a breakaway from the Labour Party would let “the Tories rule the 21st century” – and says that the formation of the SDP in 1981 was a catastrophe for all involved.

But the former Labour leader also seemed to warn that Jeremy Corbyn could face a challenge if he did not prove he could be successful at the ballot box.

Kinnock spoke to the New Statesman for the 35th anniversary of the Limehouse Declaration, and rubbished the idea that the move could be repeated, saying that there was “no logic” to it.

“Anybody advocating a split in the Labour Party has got to face the reality that they would be letting the Tories rule the 21st century,” he said, adding: “There can’t be any rational social democrat or democratic socialist who would want that, but it is a historic inevitability if they pursue it.”

He said that if anyone was “going to form a party like the SDP did”, it would have “catastrophic results for everybody”.

But he also seemed to suggest that Corbyn may decide to resign if Labour’s electoral prospects do not improve, and that if he doesn’t, others may look to challenge his leadership.

“If Jeremy is seen to be failing to connect to the electorate after a reasonable space of time then he may come to his own conclusions,” Lord Kinnock said. “People who join the party in order to uphold the interests of care and justice and opportunity and security will then make their own judgement regardless of who they voted for in 2015.”

He made clear that he did not think a leadership would be triggered by ideology, but rather how the party fares at the ballot box:

“There’s a fundamental question here and it is whether people want to secure power in the party or to win power for the party,” he said.

“Those people who want to win power, whether they’re left, right or centre, will be watching the evidence and will make their decision on the basis of that evidence. Not because of some spasm of emotion, or the fact that their candidate didn’t get elected: they’ll want to know they have a party that is being led in its advance with the electorate.”

David Blanchflower, who sits on Labour’s economic advisory panel, also had some words of warning for the Labour leadership in the New Statesman. He said that the party will have to “learn fast” and accept the “realities of capitalism”:

“The new Labour leaders are not economists and are going to have to learn fast. They will have to accept the realities of capitalism and modern markets, like it or not. No more silly stuff about companies not being able to pay dividends if they don’t do X or Y.”