Daily catch-up: what if Corbyn became 'permanently unavailable'?

Plus 'Why the Tories Won', Janan Ganesh against declinism, and the oldest state capital

The "under the bus" question is a bit tasteless, so I prefer to call it the "permanently unavailable" question. That's the phrase in the Labour Party rule book: if the leader becomes "permanently unavailable" while the party is in opposition, the deputy leader takes over until a new leadership election is held. The PU question is worth asking every now and again, because it can help to illuminate some of the substructures of politics.

What would happen if Jeremy Corbyn were no longer able or willing to serve is that Tom Watson would become acting leader and an election would be held, at the latest by the next annual conference (E iv on page 15). Watson would have to decide if he wanted to be prime minister or, more likely, a caretaker like Michael Howard, as he could obtain the 35 nominations he would need to stand for permanent leader. None of Corbyn's hard-left comrades (John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, Clive Lewis) would be able to stand because Labour MPs are not going to make that mistake again.

So who else would there be? Andy Burnham would probably try again, but Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall wouldn't. Chris Leslie was elected by his colleagues to the party's Treasury committee. Maria Eagle was effective on Andrew Marr on Sunday. Stella Creasy came second in the deputy leadership contest. But David Miliband's time has passed. Depending on when it happened, would Chuka Umunna's family have got over the shock of media interest? Later on, might Dan Jarvis or Keir Starmer deem themselves ready?

Much depends on the timing. After October 2018, when new constituency boundaries are brought in, the reselections begin.

• Margaret McDonagh, Labour's former general secretary, has a review of Tim Ross's Why the Tories Won. She is acid about Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband:

Ross repeats ad nauseum the party’s pledge to have ‘four million conversations with voters’. ‘Conversation’ here is misused. All Labour did on the doorstep was to ask voters the same questions again and again. Maybe they thought that if we kept asking voters the same question one day we would get the right answer. The reality was that we had nothing to say in 2015, just as we lacked a clear message in 2010. It is a complete mystery to me why some Labour leaders fight hard to get to the top but do not know what they want to do when they get there.

• "Britain’s retreat from the world is exhaustively chronicled, much lamented and non-existent." Janan Ganesh is as good as ever in the Financial Times.

• I found a good quiz question yesterday. Which US state capital is the oldest city? Matt Gillespie had the first correct answer.

• And finally, thanks to Robin Flavell for this:

"I do a great impersonation of Imran Khan's ex-wife."

"Jemima?"

"No, I just do her voice."