“THAT’S WHAT the people want,” said the usher as we watched Jeremy Corbyn chatting to a large group of audience members young and old, male and female.

It was a telling sight. The other three candidates had exited stage right at the first opportunity after the Labour leadership debate in Gateshead ended. There was little point in them staying any longer — Corbyn had been the crowd favourite throughout the night.

Judging by the reception he received from the studio audience and viewers at home — more than 80 per cent thought he had won — he is nailed on for victory next Saturday, a view reinforced by the bookies’ odds and the few polls that have been conducted.

The other candidates are still scrapping for their political lives, though.

In the most heated part of the debate, Yvette Cooper attacked Corbyn’s spending plans in what felt like a desperate, albeit heartfelt, move from a candidate who knows the leadership has all but slipped from her grasp.

Before that, host Adam Boulton had asked Corbyn questions, particularly on his defence policy, that he did not pose to the others, prompting one member of the audience to interject and ask the former Sky News political editor why he was doing that.

At times, Corbyn appeared uncharacteristically jaded, perhaps a consequence of his punishing touring schedule and the fact that he often becomes the focus, both for the moderators and the other candidates.

Yet, as the frontrunner, he dominated the debate even when he wasn’t speaking. Andy Burnham said the party had become too concerned with presentation and pandering to the right-wing press.

Tellingly, he said that a constant refrain from the public was that “there’s no point voting, you’re all the same.” The people have not drifted away from Labour, Burnham concluded, “Labour has drifted away from the people.” It was a tacit acknowledgement that Corbyn’s spin-free, authentic approach had struck a chord.

Even Liz Kendall agreed with Corbyn on the need for bottom-up policy-making — the antithesis of Tony Blair’s presidential approach to government.

It’s this that will be Corbyn’s legacy to Labour, even in the event of defeat — he has dragged the party back to the left. If he doesn’t win, the candidate that does would do well to remember that. It’s what the people want.