Most importantly, the circumstances in which the Independent Group now finds itself, certainly compared to 1981, are perilous to say the least.

Those areas initially most susceptible to the rise of the SDP – university towns and wealthier metropolitan areas – now tend to be bastions of Corbynism, the social base of which is relatively straight-forward: public sector workers, BAME communities, university graduates who feel they’ve lost out, trade unions, older generations who drifted away from the party under Tony Blair, those deeply politicised by austerity.