Also a Labour party member Guy.  It might be a bit overdone but whilst the average person doesn't care less about internal Labour party politics I think the average voter often has views on Corbyn, he's pretty toxic, certainly outside the Momentum heartlands.

Starmer is right to be decisive here; both in correcting the anti semitism issue but also to look like he is a strong electable leader breaking from the fiasco of Corbyn's time in charge.

It's very important for the Labour party. Under JC they never really dealt with the accusations of anti-semitism in the party, and until that is done, they will never be able to contend for leadership in a meaningful way. This move by Starmer was smart and he has time until the elections to clean up the party image. This is the first step. JC is too proud to admit that he was responsible in not taking a more aggressive stance against antisemitism in the party and it's right that an example should now be made of him and he should be hung out to dry. What a prat.

Also an element of:  'Don't look at the ongoing Tory clusterfook.  Look at this historic Labour one!"

For a large number of the Labour left, Corbyn is essentially the leader in exile and Starmer is a Tory plant. There could be quite serious infighting. The level of attention is right. 

I think if anything the coverage is doing Labour favours-  yes the hard core lefties will be pissed off but who else are they going to vote for?   For most Starmer will be coming across well and the greater the coverage the more people will know the thick line being drawn under the Corbyn years.   I just think that most people wondering if they will be locked in their homes in a week or two want to listen to hours on end about it.

That's probably right but your first point is the key it helps draw a complete line over the Corbyn years.  Starmer needs to do that.

SHA if the Labour left have a problem with the party nothing is stopping them going off to form another party.  They could call it Momentum or whatever they like.  But in terms of the Labour party itself they are on the run now.  Starmer needs to ensure that continues though.  He has to do the Kinnock job and get the hard Marxist often racist left out of the party as Kinnock did Militant in the 80s.  That's a prerequisite to Labour looking electable again.

ALTHOUGH COMRADE CORBYN IS A LOONY LEFTY HE DID DO HIS PART FOR BREXIT AND FOR THAT ALONE HE SHOULD BE LEFT TO ENJOY HIS RETIREMENT MAKING INNOVATIVE JAMS THAT WILL HELP US MAKE A SUCCESS OUT OF BREXIT

I am not a fan of Corbyn or his policies.

However, his accusation that led to his suspension was 100pc correct. People didn't like his policies/think he should have formed another party which is fair enough, but the mud slung at him re being racist was ludicrous. It was indeed completely political. And his suspension is posturing by Starmer, plain and simple

I don’t think the main accusation against Corbyn is that he is racist, certainly not from within the party, it is that he tried to downplay/did not stamp down hard enough on anti Semitism when he was leader and is still doing it.

I don't think this does draw a line under it. No one is gullible enough to believe that Corbyn carries the can on his own for everything that happened (or didn't). Yes he was in charge and didn't do enough to cancel antisemites in his party (for whatever reasons he may have had) but he wasn't on his own in that boat.

Scapegoating one man for all of the ills isn't going to wash. There were a lot of others who were culpable (or who stood by and said or did nothing) and if they are not also weeded out then the rot will continue and a clean break won't be possible.

Corbyn is also spiteful to take out as many people as possible on his way down. He'll know where bodies are buried.

I'm not sure this is a very strong tactic from the Labour party right now.

I also think it's pretty weak suspending him for a response to the ECHR investigation rather  than suspending him for the fact of the investigation itself.    

Corbyn found it hard to stamp down on people who think Israel is a rogue state. probably because he also thinks Israel is a rogue state.

In the short term, I think starmer benefits. People will notice that he is 'against corbyn' and any fool knows corbyn was significantly less popular than the labour party as a whole.  re the next election, it depends whether there is on-going in-fighting or if the corbynites are mostly silenced. starmer hasn't really moved away from corbyn's domestic policy platform...or not that i've noticed

I think he's said the 2017 manifesto is a strong base to go forward from, so he has dropped the more radical 2019 ideas, but I actually think that is just an attempt from Starmer to appease the 'left'.

We'll start to get a measure of the fall out from this in next year's local elections. A lot of grassroots activists won't bother helping out with that campaign at all and that may be a body blow to Starmer's polls and popularity.