Backing the leader or burying Corbynism? What now for Jeremy’s critics?

Jeremy Corbyn’s having a party. The attempts to dethrone the Labour leader have failed, and while the left of the party celebrates tonight many others, cowed by another comprehensive defeat, have plenty of thinking to do.

From the soft left to the old right to the post-Blairite flank of the party, Corbynsceptic Labour MPs need to assess their tactics after members once again made their feelings plain. Thankfully for them, this was no out-of-the-blue Leicester City moment of glory (that was last time around) – this autumn, the leadership contest was an almost foregone conclusion that should have given them enough time to mull things over.

Here are the four most obvious options for Owen Smith supporters in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) now:

We can see you sneaking out

Talk of an SDP-style split in the party has gained traction over recent months, although more so with broadsheet columnists than any actual MPs. The failure of the Social Democrats in the 1980s should put off any members who argue that “electability” is important, and the lesson from that experience is that it only makes Labour’s slog back to power longer and harder. It’s a non-starter.

Working in a Corbyn wonderland

Many will judge that Corbyn’s renewed mandate is a sign that it’s time to make this work and so return to frontbencher positions. Labour is currently over 60 shadow ministerial places short of a proper opposition, and there are now persistent rumours that Dan Jarvis, darling of the centrists, will take up a post under Corbyn for the first time. However, some will only see fit to return if shadow Cabinet elections are restored – with Corbyn opposed to a plan that would see only the PLP get a vote, that could be a long shot.

Shadow Cabinet, you’re having a laugh

The sheer scale of victory for Corbyn, and the level of enthusiasm from the party grassroots for his continued leadership, will mean that many MPs will want to keep their heads down – especially with the threat of deselection seeming to increase. For some, this means taking up high-profile positions in select committees, or increasing their work with progressive think tanks and pressure groups, allowing them to hold the Tories to account and build up an alternative strategy to Corbyn without ever explicitly undermining him. But, for others, it will simply mean concentrating on constituency work and not making waves in Westminster.

Get into ‘em

While most who have sat on the backbenches ever since last September opted for the “wait and see” tactic, expecting Corbyn to fail on his own terms, the airing of criticisms during this summer’s contest make it difficult to return to silent consent. A small number – you probably know their names already – believed Corbyn’s leadership to be so damaging they leapt immediately into a war of attrition, and used every opportunity to publicly pin the party’s woes on the leader. Now more have learnt to love the feeling of being at liberty to speak their minds, you can expect the number of vocal critics to remain large.