FIRST they ignored Jeremy Corbyn, then they patronised him before attacking him publicly and now Labour rightwingers are panicking that he might top the first round of the Labour leadership poll.

If the neoliberal wing of the parliamentary party is worried, that’s good, although supporters of Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper may believe that an air of panic might pull matters their way.

The key to Corbyn’s campaign has been to draw attention to a raft of policies deemed far too left-wing by the party hierarchy but, in reality, popular with voters.

It should not surprise anyone that a costed progressive alternative to student tuition fees would gain support.

Liberal Democrats won hundreds of thousands of votes at the 2010 general election by promising to abolish tuition fees before reneging on their pledge when they opted to sell themselves and their principles to David Cameron.

New Labour, which backtracked in government on its earlier rejection of tuition fees, paid an electoral price for lack of principle.

Since then the Establishment consensus has been that tuition fees and abolition of student maintenance grants are here to stay despite campaigning by students who know they will be weighed down by debt for much of their lives.

Corbyn has shown that there is no reason why that should be so if the political will, as in Scotland, is there.

The annual cost of £10 billion could be met through reversing George Osborne’s handout to big business by slashing corporation tax and by imposing a modest increase in National Insurance contributions on annual incomes of £50,000 upwards.

Alternatively, the rate at which the government reduces its spending deficit could be eased.

Just because the front benches in Parliament agree on a particular approach — you couldn’t put a fag paper between them on far too many issues — doesn’t mean it is incontrovertible.

A major plus of Corbyn’s campaign has been his willingness to challenge the pro-City, pro-capitalist, pro-imperialist assumptions of the parliamentary elite.

He is gaining credit across the board, neck and neck with Burnham in constituency nominations, winning union backing and attracting growing numbers of individual admirers, including registered and affiliated supporters.

In contrast, lame duck Blairite Liz Kendall’s camp boasts of her backing from four former union officials, all ensconced in the House of Lords and one of whom, Maggie Jones, is distinguished by having lost Labour’s erstwhile safest seat in Wales after having been parachuted in by the party machine.

She and three fellow baronesses believe that the party “needs a fresh start and we believe that’s why Liz Kendall is the best candidate to lead Labour in the years ahead.”

They don’t explain how a throwback to the days of shadowing a Tory agenda is either fresh or likely to lead Labour to victory.

What Corbyn brings to the table is honesty, openness and a willingness to accept that much of what Labour did in government harmed the working class that the party was set up to represent.

People who have been alienated by politicians see in him something different and want to give him a chance.

No-one appreciates more than Corbyn himself that working people cannot be emancipated by individual leaders, no matter how principled.

But casting their votes for the candidate who’s different from the rest by virtue of the policies he advocates can play an important role in rebuilding a confident and combative labour movement.