IF there was ever a chance of the Labour Party uniting around its new leader – as it was urged to do by its new deputy leader Tom Watson yesterday – it seems almost impossible following Jeremy Corbyn’s frank admission yesterday that he would never use Britain’s nuclear “deterrent”.
Corbyn’s statement will be welcomed by those of us who believe that Trident should not be renewed and that nuclear weapons are themselves so great an evil that Britain should rid itself of them unilaterally as quickly as possible.
To have an ally on that issue at the head of the Labour Party – whatever you may think of the party’s other policies – makes that disarmament more rather than less likely.
The problem for supporters of unilateral disarmament and for Corbyn himself is that such a move is not the policy of the Labour Party, which despite the views of its new leader still supports the renewal of Trident.
The anger at Corbyn’s statement yesterday came not just from the predictable voices of right-wing commentators in the media but from members of the Labour Party shadow cabinet only recently appointed by the new leader himself.
There is no real prospect of Labour changing its policy on Trident in the immediate future. It could have done so at the conference, which ended yesterday, but instead an expected debate did not take place and Corbyn elected instead to suggest Labour MPs be allowed a free vote on this and other issues in the Commons.
His proposal to allow debate within the party on Trident looks pretty pointless given that he has ruled out complying with party policy should it decide to continue its support for Trident.
If Corbyn’s statement yesterday hastens the day Britain dumps Trident then the internal strife within his party will fade into insignificance in comparison.
But at the moment they are a sign that despite the message that Labour has changed and can once again be trusted, the reality is that figures in some of the highest positions within the party remain wedded to the betrayals of the past.
Corbyn will no doubt face serious questions on that front when he arrives in Scotland today, provided of course that he agrees to talk to the press without imposing unnecessary restrictions on who has access.
There are other questions he must answer too. How much does he really understand the changed political landscape north of the Border ... and how much does he care?
Does he recognise that the same desire for change which saw him win the Labour leadership has its parallels in the energy and radicalism of the Yes movement?
And is he really willing to forge alliances to create a powerful anti-austerity force which can offer a counter narrative to the Tory insistence on inflicting pain on those least able to bear it?
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