Centrist Granddad: We shouldn't be shocked Corbyn is timid on tax

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This evening 20 Labour MPs voted with the Lib Dems to oppose the Conservatives' tax cuts for middle and high earners.

The rest did what they were told by their party's leader and abstained.

Labour's sea-green incorruptible keeping his head down so as not so upset affluent voters?

Indeed so. And this is not the first time Jeremy Corbyn has been uneasy about increasing taxation.

There is no more spanielesque supporter of Corbyn than Chris Williamson. So public is his undying loyalty that his comrades have forgiven him for running Derby through an arrangement with the Conservatives.

But when Williamson suggested that council tax bills for the highest value homes in England should be doubled, he was gone from his shadow ministerial post before he could wag his tail.

Labour's mood music under Corbyn is very left wing, largely because defending his policies has been subcontracted to a WhatsApp group of media commentators and social media stars.

When shadow ministers are called upon to do the defending they don't sound half so assured. Can the programme of rebuilding those media commentators really be financed without increasing taxes for the average voter?

Labour activists talked with awe of their manifesto at last year's general election. But its slogan 'For the many not the few' was a retread of an old Tony Blair slogan, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies confirmed that the Lib Dem manifesto for that election was far more generous towards benefit claimants.

So we should not be surprised that Corbyn's Labour was so timid tonight. Deep down, he's a bit of a centrist granddad.