Frank Field jumped before he was pushed and Corbyn isn't racist – but Labour's problems are about to get worse anyway

In 1989, Frank Field was deselected by his Birkenhead constituency party and threatened to fight a by-election as an independent. Covering the story, I remember how Neil Kinnock, the Labour leader, strained every sinew to keep Field inside the tent. “We cannot afford to lose someone like Frank; it would send a terrible signal,” was the view of Kinnock’s camp. Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) ordered a re-run of the selection contest, and Field narrowly survived.

The wheel has turned full circle. In interviews today, Field made clear he is considering whether to trigger a by-election after resigning the Labour whip yesterday. But Labour is a very different party now: Jeremy Corbyn, rejecting pleas by centrist Labour MPs to try to keep Field on board, waved him goodbye, briefly thanking him for his service.

Now that he sits as an “Independent Labour MP”, Field has the right label, as he has always been independent-minded. In 2009, at a party to mark his 30 years in parliament, I was shocked when the star guest turned up – Margaret Thatcher.

By being one of a handful of Labour MPs to defy the party whip and support Theresa May in Commons votes on Brexit, Field probably knew he would face a “no confidence” vote in his local party, which duly happened last month. The party then asked the Labour leadership to withdraw the whip but nothing happened and there was no sign of it happening.

However, Field probably judged that he faced deselection before the next general election. Corbyn allies claim Field was therefore “looking for an excuse” to resign, but Field arguably gave his critics an excuse by backing Brexit, even opposing MPs having a “meaningful vote” on any deal.

However, Corbyn handed Field an excuse on a plate: his woeful handling of the antisemitism controversy which has eclipsed Brexit as this summer's biggest political story (as well as Labour’s “build it in Britain” campaign, which you may not have noticed at all).

I don’t believe Corbyn has a racist bone in his body. But I do believe the political management of this unnecessary crisis has been dreadful. It was a mistake to portray genuine concerns about antisemitism as a plot to undermine Corbyn. Playing the victim works sometimes – and Corbyn often is a victim of media misrepresentation – but looks awful when it doesn’t. Think Trump.

Field’s announcement was badly timed for Corbyn, who will belatedly try to draw a line under the sorry saga next week, when the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and NEC discuss the issue. I expect the NEC will finally adopt in full the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which Labour should have done months ago and would have prevented its lost summer.

Corbyn wants to pacify his party and repair relations with the Jewish community. His problem is that the row has been allowed to fester for so long that it will be difficult to regain the trust of Jewish groups and some Labour MPs. They will be watching closely to see whether Corbyn apologises and whether Labour adds any caveats to the IHRA definition.

I’m told Field will probably not be the last Labour MP to resign the whip over antisemitism. His departure shines a light on the gap between Labour’s members and the PLP. Corbyn retains overwhelming support among the members, even though many want him to oppose May more vigorously on Brexit. However, some MPs who were not natural allies but rallied behind him after his brilliant election performance last year have now turned against him over antisemitism and his foreign policy stance.

Corbynistas reckon that only about 40,000 of Labour’s 550,000 members share these views. The membership is not a static pool; there is always churn. At present, MPs believe Corbyn critics are the ones most likely to drift away from the party, which would mean the membership is shifting further to the left. This will widen the gap with the PLP, as will rule changes to dilute MPs’ power due to be approved at next month’s Labour conference. It was revealing that Chris Williamson, the MP and Corbyn ally, told the BBC’s Newsnight programme last night: “The Labour Party is its members, it’s not a handful of people in parliament … They are less than 0.4 per cent of our membership and diminishing all the time.”

This all points to some kind of mini breakaway in which perhaps a dozen MPs resign the whip and sit as independents. Eventually, some might be open to launching a new centre party. But that would not happen until after next March, when the UK is due to leave the EU; several Corbyn sceptics hope to win a tougher Labour stance against Brexit, including support for a Final Say referendum.

Corbyn, the ultimate peacemaker, will find it difficult to pacify his party. Labour’s divisions are going to get worse before they get better.