HE didn’t win this month’s General Election, but while Theresa May’s reputation continues to nose-dive, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is riding a remarkable wave of popularity.

At the weekend, Mr Corbyn’s speech at the Glastonbury Festival attracted the same kind of crowds that were present to watch headliners Radiohead or Foo Fighters. “Another world is possible,” he told his enraptured audience, in between football-style chants of his name.

A week on Saturday, police estimate up to 200,000 people will attend Durham Miners’ Gala to hear his address. Mr Corbyn is a regular visitor, but this year’s headline act will confirm his burgeoning appeal.

Something is happening here, and it is more than simply a renewed approach to Labour’s traditional bases. As his Glastonbury appearance proved, Mr Corbyn has struck a powerful chord with a part of the electorate that had previously shunned the mainstream political arena.

Young voters are clearly attracted by his positive vision of equality and social justice. They listened to his pleas for support during the election campaign, and no longer feel politics is something they can leave to those older than them. That can only be a good thing.

But Mr Corybn is drawing support from across the age spectrum, and while he could face a difficult challenge to manage expectations as his policies and beliefs are placed under increased scrutiny, his political rivals can no longer dismiss his appeal as a fringe phenomenon.

Who knows if the sums add up, but as Mrs May so dramatically found to her cost on election night, people increasingly seem to prefer the optimism of hope to the gloomy predictions of what could be about to go wrong.