BY ALL the narratives of the Establishment, the media bosses and the business class, this shouldn’t be happening — but the escalating momentum behind Jeremy Corbyn as the next leader of the Labour Party is undeniable.

When the veteran socialist MP first put his name forward most doubted he would even get onto the ballot paper. The other candidates had a head start. And did the parliamentary Labour Party have enough leftwingers left to get him the nominations he required? With minutes to go, he was still short and the Morning Star’s parliamentary reporter Luke James’s canny prediction that he would hit the magic number was still being laughed at.

The decision by Britain’s biggest trade union, Unite, to throw its weight behind him confirms that this is no longer merely an opportunity to shift the debate to the left and ask difficult questions of the defeatists who claim Labour can only beat the Tories by copying them.

That may have been all many socialists thought was possible a month ago, but as Corbyn said yesterday, this is now a campaign with a very real chance of success.

The union says that it is backing the Islington North MP because “his policies [are] most closely aligned with those of Unite,” a plain enough statement of fact that will provoke howls of fury on the right of the Labour Party.

It says something about the warped nature of political debate in this country that endorsements by this country’s largest democratic organisations, the trade unions, are routinely painted as a liability when politicians compete to brag about favourable reviews from entirely unelected business tycoons.

Sour-faced Blairites will intone as they have before that this is evidence Labour should rethink its relationship with the movement that founded it.

It should indeed — but not in the way they imagine.Look at the enormous vitality of Corbyn’s campaign, the huge outpouring of grassroots enthusiasm it has inspired and the growing number of trade unions which believe he would best serve their members — Unite adds its voice to those of train drivers’ union Aslef and food industry union BFAWU, as well as endorsements from non-affiliated unions including transport union RMT and the Fire Brigades Union.

Yet this for an MP who scraped onto the ballot paper with some nominations lent by other candidates and others given by MPs who said clearly they would never actually vote for him.

Elitist Westminster bubble residents will snort that their own judgement must be superior to that of ordinary members and supporters of the Labour Party.

The truth is the gulf between the attitudes of most Labour MPs and those of the people they are supposed to represent has been starkly exposed.

Millions of trade union members prefer Corbyn because they want a champion for working people, someone who will act to challenge the power of big business, stand up for higher wages, oppose attacks on the welfare state and defend vital public services such as the NHS.

Way beyond the movement, millions of Britons have told politicians again and again that they want the railways and utilities renationalised, they want higher taxes on the rich and they would prefer it if politicians do not spend £100 billion of our money on a new generation of nuclear missiles.

Corbyn has far more in common with the people of this country than his detractors do. And it is now clear that he is in it to win it.