He can’t do it alone, of course. Hopefully, he’s now given the signal for Labour’s other big dogs to run – and it’s heartening to hear that an intervention is coming from Gordon Brown, eternally credible on this issue as the man who kept Britain out of the euro.

But such a burden falls chiefly on the leader. There are self-interested reasons for Corbyn to take it on. Here is one issue on which the whole Labour movement, unions and MPs alike, can unite behind him.

If he succeeds in energising Labour voters, he can disprove those critics who insist he’s toxic at the ballot box. He can notch up a win. And, at the same time, Jeremy Corbyn will do his country a great service, even shape its destiny. And not many predicted that.

Who’d have thought it? Jeremy Corbyn could shape Britain’s destiny in Europe | Jonathan Freedland | Opinion | The Guardian