Star comment: Time for Corbyn to shine

Yet they have done it. The grass roots of the Labour Party have made the leap. And now we wait with bated breath to see if Jeremy Corbyn takes the Labour Party on a downward plunge, or he surprises all those prophets of doom and soars.

First and foremost, we must say congratulations to him. After all, he is a local lad, who went to school in Newport, and cut his political teeth on the local scene, being a member of Wrekin Young Socialists and membership secretary of Wrekin Labour Party.

As it happens, our files tell us that he was also once a reporter here, on the Newport Advertiser.

So, in the leadership contest, he was "our boy", even if you disagree with everything he says and stands for.

His was the only campaign truly to galvanise support and capture the imagination of Labour voters. In doing so he exposed what lay behind Tony Blair's triple election-winning smile – a whole army who were hitching a ride, but whose hearts lay elsewhere.

Those Labour grandees and big hitters who said that having Corbyn as leader would guarantee electoral oblivion are in an awkward position.

They can hardly take up posts under his leadership when they have expressed such views, without being called hypocrites and opportunists.

They may, then, choose another course, the course which was chosen by four high profile moderates in the 1980s. Not happy with Labour under Michael Foot, they formed a new party.

For Mr Corbyn and his supporters, they will no doubt make calls for the party to unite under his leadership. What a laugh that will be, given his own track record of rebellion and internal opposition.

Opposition to things is what has characterised Mr Corbyn who, at 66, is older than Churchill was when he became Prime Minister. He has held no significant positions of high public office or responsibility.

Opposition leader is an apt title for him.

It now falls on him to show he has a constructive vision which is not just a product of some metropolitan ideological dream factory, but is costed, realistic and achievable. Whoever had won the leadership, Labour would still have needed time to sort itself out.

Labour has made its choice. Whatever else this interesting interlude brings, Mr Corbyn, if not deposed in the meantime, will give British voters arguably their first clear choice for a generation in 2020.