The return of Jeremy Corbyn to the frontlines of British politics is all too predictable. It is no less unwelcome for being foreseen.

Mr Corbyn’s statement launching his new party criticised “the great dividers”, and proclaimed that his “movement is made up of people of all faiths and none”. That he made these comments without any apparent sense of English irony speaks to his lack of self-awareness; few in Westminster have done more to spread division.

Mr Corbyn’s supporters may claim that Nigel Farage’s Reform is stoking division by drawing attention to the failure of the British state to guard its borders. This is nonsense. Concerns about immigration are shared by many millions, and Mr Farage has been clear in disavowing Tommy Robinson and his ilk.

Under Mr Corbyn’s leadership the Labour Party was investigated for anti-Semitism by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. He is a man who once referred to members of Hamas and Hezbollah as his “friends”, although he subsequently attempted to backtrack. He was arrested outside the Old Bailey in 1986 after joining a protest to “show solidarity” with terrorists including the Brighton bomber.

The most divisive contests and disgraceful scenes of the last election did not take place where Reform candidates were jousting with the Conservatives, but in the fights between pro-Gaza candidates and their Labour opponents. Mr Corbyn’s obsessive attacks on Israel, including his backing for a complete arms embargo promises to further inflame this issue.

As with the rapid rise of Mr Farage’s Reform to now lead in the polls, Mr Corbyn’s support speaks to a broader failure of Britain’s established parties, and the ossification of our politics.

While it is understandable, however, that many voters are frustrated with the visible decay of the British state, Mr Corbyn’s toxic brand of Left-wing politics would only deepen the crisis we face. Confronted with a mountainous debt burden and an out-of-control welfare system, Mr Corbyn’s answer is to further tax “the very richest”, and nationalise energy, water, rail and mail.

It is an agenda which would put the final nail in Britain’s coffin, and smother all hope of recovery for decades to come, repeating the very worst economic policy errors of the 20th century in some of the least favourable circumstances imaginable.