THEY say that a week is a long time in politics, but often this phrase is used merely to imply the reshuffling of a few faces or some minor policy change. However it finds its perfect example in the seismic change that Labour is undergoing as the result of the election of Jeremy Corbyn.

As another saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words. On Tuesday September 15, during the second reading of the vindictive Trade Union Bill, the TV showed Jeremy and our shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, sitting on the front bench after years of swimming against the stream. Angela Eagle, our new shadow business secretary, brilliantly led the charge.

She got stuck in and managed to tear the guts out of the Tories.

Of course, Labour has been completely re-energised since Jeremy launched his successful leadership campaign. During his first week as leader over 60,000 people joined our ranks. He has also brought a long-awaited change of style to Prime Minister’s Questions. Jeremy quizzed David Cameron on issues that had been raised by ordinary people — firmly putting substance before theatrics.

The new shadow communities secretary Jon Trickett is promising to travel the length and breadth of our country organising citizens’ assemblies. Ordinary people will have their voices heard. The new kind of politics that Jeremy promised is taking root.

Our ruling elite, from media barons to an unnamed mutinous general, are all cursing their luck. How can it be that someone’s daring to challenge their cosy consensus? They thought that socialism was dead and buried, but suddenly they have had a very rude awaking. The same is true for many Labour politicians of a certain era. Some will no doubt rediscover their enthusiasm of yesteryear for creating a different world while others will simply and sadly wither on the vine.

However, Jeremy can’t change our country on his own. Mighty forces are already plotting his downfall as he represents a threat to their power, wealth and authority. That’s why I call on anyone who is not yet a member our party to join today.

We must build a million-strong movement to give Jeremy the best chance of victory. We must focus our efforts on building a policy platform which delivers a Labour government in 2020.

This means challenging the neoliberal consensus that successive Labour governments between 1997-2010 felt unable — or unwilling — to take on. I know that our new shadow chancellor will not shy away from doing this. Sadly, since Thatcher we have had an economic model which puts the needs of finance capital at its heart, rather those of ordinary people.

It can’t be lost on us that countries who did not dive headfirst into this casino economy have fared better. Those who continued making things through supporting their manufacturing base — such as Germany —are in a much better place.

Of course, the governments which Cameron has led have been pursuing kamikaze economic policies which have resulted in low growth, nosediving living standards for most and increased inequality, while our national debt continues to rise.

George Osborne promised the march of the makers but, five years on, we are making nothing much.

The Establishment is now saying that the people’s quantitative easing proposed by Jeremy is somehow inflationary, while failing to explain how the hundreds of billions that have been “printed” to safeguard the interests of the financial system aren’t. This clearly smacks of our elite desperately trying to do everything it can to save their bacon at our expense. We badly need an investment programme which prioritises building homes for all, but that also allows us to rebuild our social and economic infrastructure to make it fit for the 21st century, while safeguarding the future with a million climate jobs to significantly reduce our carbon emissions and help rebuild our manufacturing base.

In addition, we need to tackle ever-growing inequality. The richest 1,000 families in Britain and Northern Ireland now control a staggering £547 billion. This is an increase of more than 112 per cent since 2009. They now own more than the poorest 40 per cent of British households.

This concentration of wealth in the hands of so few is completely unsustainable. To start beating this we need a minimum wage of £10 an hour now. We must close tax loopholes and end evasion. We must re-calibrate our tax system to ensure that fairness is at its core — ordinary people currently pay more than their fair share. Winning the fight against the grotesque inequality that neoliberalism has unleashed will be the defining battle of our time.

Last, I want to touch on an issue that is very close to our union’s heart — public ownership of our railways. Thankfully we now have a party leader who wholeheartedly supports ending the failed privatisation experiment which has seen fares skyrocket. Let’s support hard-pressed passengers by agreeing that our railways must be brought into public ownership so we can cut their fares. This will send a clear message that our party has changed — we are on the side of ordinary people. In fact, all the policies which I have outlined will undoubtedly win hearts and minds. Equally and most importantly, they’ll deliver the votes which will give Jeremy the keys to Number 10.

• Manuel Cortes is general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association.