Andy Beckett (The split decision, G2, 20 July) contends that the current Labour party crisis parallels events in 1981 – which led to the formation of the SDP – and that Jeremy Corbyn is a similar figure now to Michael Foot then: “a faintly otherworldly leftwinger in his late 60s”. This suggestion is misleading because it ignores the fact that our “Overton window” – through which the boundaries between political orthodoxy and heresy are defined – has shifted very considerably to the right in the past 30 years. Political philosophies and policies that would in 1981 have seemed “loony right” are now viewed as mainstream, and formerly social-democrat positions are commonly reviled as somehow Marxist.
Trident excepted, most of what Corbyn stands for today is closer to Shirley Williams than to Michael Foot. This is why Corbyn is so popular. It is not that he is hard left: it is because the current position of the Overton window is repellent to millions of ordinary citizens who wish to live in a more decent society than ours has become.
Bob Gilmurray
Exeter
• Jeremy Corbyn says it is the responsibility of every Labour MP to get behind the party. But what does he mean by that? Do they have a responsibility to support and promote party policy? Or do they have a responsibility to support and follow the line of the party leader? As was seen in the vote on of Trident, those two things don’t always overlap.
David Wall
Northampton
• The difficult relationship between the PLP and its leadership is becoming ever more fraught with allegations, rants and tears. Could they not appear on the Jeremy Kyle Show; he’s most adept at resolving family quarrels?
John Flowers
Neath, West Glamorgan
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