THE news that some parts of the civil service are already making preparations for the possibility of a Jeremy Corbyn-led Government after the next general election has sent shock waves through the Conservative Party.

Two years ago, the election of Corbyn as Labour’s leader, was regarded as a gift for the Tories for years to come.

Now, after Corbyn’s surprisingly impressive performance at the general election, the fact civil servants are now planning for the possibility of a leftwing Government comes as an added shock to the Tories.

There was no crystal-ball gazer in the land last spring – when the Tories were wallowing in a 20-point poll lead – who could possibly have predicted the situation today Labour has a better chance than for ages to get back to power.

What Corbyn and his friends did was to motivate Britain’s (allegedly apathetic) young voters to drag themselves along to the polling stations and now many young people, who had shown no political interest whatsoever in the past, regard Corbyn as some kind of demigod.

It is not quite Beatlemania yet, but the chanting has started.

It will be a mammoth, if not impossible, task for the Tories to wrench these youngsters away from their present stance. There will need to be some big thinking at Tory HQ – because at the moment, their prospects are far from rosy.