The thing with the Labour Party is its misplaced sense of solidarity. The clue is in the name, after all. We saw it under Brown and then to a greater extent under Miliband - willingness and even determination to support incompetent and/or unpopular leaders despite the clear problems with their leadership.
The defeats in 2010 and 2015 were bad for Labour, very bad indeed. The drubbing Miliband in particular received has put the party in an almost impossible position when it comes to winning in 2020 or before regardless of who was leader but Corbyn's victory last September has made defeat, if not all out death, a total certainty.
Corbyn's victory was the Labour Party at its absolute worst. Principles over power. Debate over decisions. Niceties over necessity. In fact, let me rephrase that; Corbyn's victory was the wider British left at its absolute worst rather than the Labour Party alone.
This man is never going to win a general election. Ever. Yet many decent left wing people, who know this deep down, cast that aside. For many, it's out of a sense of nostalgia. Others out of ego. Others because they genuinely feel they'd rather lose with Corbyn than win with someone like Tony Blair, a position I think is so despicable there aren't even words for it.
So here we are. We have an uninspiring leader with no charisma and zero leadership skills in possibly the safest position possible. He's wrong on just about everything else but he's right on one thing; he has a huge mandate and he'll probably retain it.
So what then? Well, I think any Labour MP worth their salt should split the moment when (if) Corbyn wins again. If they are serious about fighting for social democracy in Britain and taking the fight to the Tories (who have become very beatable after Brexit) then the only option is to leave Corbyn to lead his own hard left rump party to witter on about Cuba, Trident and the Falklands in total obscurity where they belong.
I fear that won't happen, though. I fear they'll feign unity, bite their collective tongue and then face deselection either at the hands of McCluskey or Tory candidates in the next election. It's a seriously depressing picture but I think it's a realistic one.
I like Owen Smith and I hope he wins. I really, really do. But he loses and the Labour Party is dead, I'm afraid. And the grave will be where it belongs.