Tom Watson is a piggy in several middles | Michael White

Deputy leader’s Trotsky entryist comments have landed him in fresh trouble but the party should not – and will not – split

It’s hard to read Decca Aitkenhead’s Guardian interview with an emollient Tom Watson and not feel sorry for Labour’s deputy leader as he struggles to pick his way through the debris produced by near catastrophic errors – made by other people – without making things worse.

In the present fevered climate of anger and mutual mistrust, even such a bland assertion is likely to generate snorts of derision from one side or both. Jeremy Corbyn is a “give peace a chance” man, but like many such self-styled idealists his failure to provide effective leadership piles up the rubble and risk for those around him.

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