Labour’s conference will crackle with ideas. But the party may not survive | Martin Kettle

Under new leader Jeremy Corbyn the party is in flux. Any attempt to impose order from the centre could cause its demise

In a more rational and ordered world, the Labour party would have responded to its defeat in May more logically. First it would have debated what had gone wrong and why. Then it would have settled on the new path it needed to take. Finally it would have chosen the leader to take it there. But as we all know, it didn’t happen like that. Thanks to Ed Miliband’s premature resignation, Labour has chosen the leader but not the path.

However, Labour is now beginning to have the debates that it ought, ideally, to have had at the start. Move to the centre or to the left? Balance the books or borrow? Renew or abandon UK nuclear weapons? And many more.

Related: Tom Watson urges Corbyn to hold Labour debate on Trident and Nato

The question that faces Labour in Brighton next week is not to hold a fight to the death about big and divisive issues

Related: Democratic mandates and the survival of Labour | Letters

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