Express & Star comment: Jeremy Corbyn on the road to party ruin?

By adopting a conciliatory tone and using a few carefully chosen words, the Labour leader could perhaps stem the tide of anger that is rising around him.

Instead, it is business as usual for Mr Corbyn.

After a stormy meeting of Labour MPs in Westminster – which he failed to attend – and facing a raft of further resignations, Mr Corbyn appeared to have little concern for the crumbling state of his party.

He was tight lipped as he left his home yesterday morning, and in a speech later in the day he barely mentioned the 'gang of seven' MPs who quit over the Labour leadership's position on Brexit and anti-Semitism.

He comes across as a man baffled as to why a talented MP such as Luciana Berger, who has been subjected to horrendous anti-Semitic abuse from Corbynite Labour members, would not want to be part of his hard left cabal.

Contrast Mr Corbyn's dismissive response with that of his deputy, Tom Watson, who struck the right chord with an emotional plea for Labour to change to avoid a catastrophic split in the party.

Where Mr Watson was statesmanlike, Mr Corbyn came across as clueless, careless and crass.

Even John McDonnell, a man hardly known for his tact, admits the leadership needs to start listening to criticisms from its own MPs.

Mr Corbyn appears to have immersed himself so deeply into the imaginary extreme left utopia dreamed of by his acolytes, that he has lost all semblance of reality.

He says he wants the party to be strong – barely acknowledging its very real potential for collapse.

At a time when Labour should be making genuine moves to tackle anti-Semitism, it is readmitting the divisive figure of Derek Hatton.

For the MPs who have quit Labour – and those who may follow – the challenge is to form a new party that can be the 'broad church' that Mr Corbyn's Labour has ceased to be.

As far as Labour is concerned, the members who elected Mr Corbyn need to realise that he is making the party unelectable.