We now have a new Prime Minister. Supported by 199 colleagues (over 60 per cent of the parliamentary party), Theresa May was clearly her colleagues’ choice for 10 Downing Street. Leadsom, to her eternal credit, recognised the inevitable: that May, and of the declared candidates only May, could lead the Conservative Parliamentary Party. In one short statement, a leading contender for the Prime Ministership placed party unity over personal ambition, and the country is better for it.

Unfortunately, as much as the party of Her Majesty’s Government has demonstrated a sense of purpose and resolve in the last week, the same can not be said about the Leader of the Opposition. Having already proven himself categorically unable to lead a party in opposition, Jeremy Corbyn has embarked on one of the vainest political endeavours of the past quarter century. His self-indulgent defiance in the face of the overwhelming want of confidence of his colleagues would be farcical, if it wasn’t so tragic.

I have worked in an Opposition Office in my home country. In fact, my desk adjoined the office of the Opposition Leader (this is no great feat, the offices provided to us were minute). Canada has a parliamentary system, and with that the inevitable requirement that the Leader respond to and work with his colleagues. In Opposition such necessity is absolute – governments are always met with a scepticism dealt with only by a highly disciplined media operation, a parliamentary wing that agrees with the proposed policy programme and a parliamentary wing that it substantially loyal to the Leadership. Ideological differences are not impossible to overcome, I have seen it done on the vexing issue of abortion, but the Leader must nurture his parliamentary relationships and treat them with the respect to which they are entitled.

Jeremy Corbyn has clearly done no such thing.

Instead, through a complete utter disregard for the Parliamentary Party (Corbyn failed to turn up to the latest PLP meeting in the midst of this turmoil) Corbyn has demonstrated himself utterly unfit for leadership. From tweeting out the ‘result’ of a Shadow Cabinet meeting prior to the Shadow Cabinet deliberating, to mounting a squalid EU campaign, Corbyn has repeatedly snubbed his colleagues. Indeed, he has recently taken to hiding in his office rather than face the din of derision coming from his own benches.

Most damningly, when confronted with the lack of confidence of his colleagues, Corbyn has instead indulged in the fictional narrative of ‘democratic subversion’. Not content to simply ignore his colleagues, Corbyn has proclaimed their minimal importance to choosing the leadership. In doing so, his vanity is only surpassed by his naiveté. How, pray, is he supposed to put together a coherent programme? How is the Labour party supposed to govern with a Leader with only 19% parliamentary support? The obvious answer is they, and he, can’t.

By continuing this charade, Corbyn is not only failing his party, he is failing the country. Brexit poses immense challenges. May, formidable as she is, will make mistakes – the Conservatives will make mistakes. What will meet them on other side of the Commons however, is the political carcass of a man who has failed the most basic test of leadership – win the support of your team. Mistakes will go unchallenged; a government will go unchecked.

To address the endless braying of the Corbynistas, who blame this sorry episode on Blairites: you may be partially right. The Blairites have a times undermined the current leader. It is also however true, that Corbyn and Momentum have treated them appallingly. I do not see Chuka Umunna going around calling Diane Abbott a closet Tory, or ‘the Empire Strikes Back’. I have never seen, anywhere, a leader tells his colleagues that there would be ‘repercussions’ for a free vote, and encourage the membership to agitate against their own elected representatives. Mind you, I have also never seen an Opposition Leader hide in his office to avoid colleagues.

This may be an ideological battle, and there are some who would never be content with Corbyn’s leadership. But Corbyn has also lost the confidence of his colleagues, left, right and centre. That is the beginning and the end of it. He is, by definition, unfit for leadership. A Leadsom victory would have pleased many Conservatives activists but she did not have her colleague’s confidence. The Conservative Party, at least, realises that there is a country to govern.

Corbyn has instead drawn the battle lines, and has continually failed to inspire confidence in those who work most closely with him. Even if he wins a challenge, the victory will be pyrrhic, for he will lack the confidence of his colleagues. Not only has he failed to inspire confidence, this coming campaign threatens to split the Labour Party in two. Corbyn is demonstrably incompetent and, by risking a split, shown an absolute disloyalty to the party he now leads. He should go at once.