Ok in the knowledge that it is is way too early, my thoughts on what next. Here are some options...
1. Blue Labour. Win back the north with that left economic right social gap that all the polprofs talk about. I don't actually think this would work but I don't care because that would be me out; not gonna. I'd go green or animal rights or something.
2. Corbynism without Corbyn. Rely on demographic change or another 2017 style LibDem squeeze. Hmmm maybe. Feels like wishful thinking though. The "but wait there's more" approach to manifestos is a weakness.
3. We Are The Tony Blair Presentation Society. Feels more like wishful thinking than 2. That space is gone; you can't outflank Ian Duncan Smith on benefits. Sacking half the party membership and the unions also feels like it has financial implications.
3a. Literally The NHS and Nothing Else Party. Basically 3, but without being so blatant about it. Hang around letting Johnson screw things up until the infrastructure is so corrupted and degraded that you can get in on a program of "public services public services"...
... hmm that one needs a second tweet which implies I'm taking it more seriously. But so slow, and I really don't like the collateral damage in the interim.
4. Progressive Alliance. Bite the bullet and dump "Labour doesn't do electoral pacts", all the way through to Actual Merger With LibDems. I would go for this if I was absolutely desperate, but it would have to be pretty desperate, plus no guarantee they want it.
5. ... something else? The big problem here is the total lack of ideas from anyone other than the hard left. I've got surprisingly few spare ones meself. Regional policy and devolution? It doesn't sound like a counsel of hope.
6. Hand the leadership over to a media friendly chancer with no real policies and hope for a lot of luck. Although this sounds awful, I could have called it "the Obama Strategy" if I'd used a more favourable word than "chancer". At least it doesn't do any harm in the meantime.
(if you were looking for a concluding scene, just picture me with a cowboy hat and a moustache saying "the dude abides")
("🎶god bless Gordon Brown and the 2012 opening ceremony"
... although if someone comes up with partridge.gif "can I shock you? I like Jess Phillips. Despite what I said just now"...
then hell, if you can't think outside the box at a time like this when will you?
then hell, if you can't think outside the box at a time like this when will you?
