This was part of the Centrist strategic calculations when they set themselves against Corbyn. They got 'lucky' under Blair with the death of John Smith (who wasn't exactly a Trot himself
) as it was fairly obvious the Tories were about to implode due to sleaze etc. at the time. It would have been a minor miracle for the Tories to beat a unified Labour in 1997.
They were fairly confident that leaving the Tories in would give them a decent shot at power in similar circumstances. They didn't care about the collateral damage.
They got 'lucky' again with Covid. It made the Tory strategy of siphoning off public money while running down the NHS (and BBC to a lesser extent) much clearer. Even those who aren't normally political are appalled and sickened by the current government.
Had the Centrists backed an election win in 2017 (or even 2019 - not that there'd have been an election then which is another part of the anti-Corbyn myth-making) there was a real opportunity for something better. They decided another five years of Tory rule (especially under Boris) would more or less guarantee a victory next time.
Covid has given them a stronger starting position (assuming nothing worse than Starmer having a drink mid-meeting comes out). It has emboldened the purge against the left as they're confident they can bring in enough of middle-England just off the back of Tory-hate.
It'll be interesting to see how it plays out but while the Centrists have been playing games, the people who most needed a Labour government in 2017 have been left to rot and many are at rock-bottom with increased energy costs and rising food prices on the horizon.
The anti-Corbyn brigade thought that was a price worth paying. And for what?
We now have a country in ruins (and in a vastly worse position globally than it would have been after five years of some minor leftism) to give Centrism half-a-chance of being in charge of the peerages.
All utterly depressing.
Lucky?
You play the hands you're dealt and if you do that with skill, over time you get a far better outcome, whether that's maximising gains, or decreasing the losses. I think Labour got lucky with Blair, he was clearly competent and well liked at the time, which is not common for recent leaders. One of the main reasons he went was because of the media, but unfortunately the media will always be ran by rich old people, and those rich old people are more likely to side with the Tories, and they will control the narrative.
Corbyn was no saint and was very good at getting on the wrong side of voters, he was also a very poor/ weak leader who had zero clue about tactics. His policies were ok (for me, in the centre, and I voted for him), but it's not just about policies to everyone, if you don't have the other skill sets to put them in place.
The Tories have messed up Covid, but that's also partly due to us having loads of selfish pricks in the electorate, and that would not have changed with Labour in charge. As for the NHS, this is just par for the course, Labour always have that ammo, they've had the waiting list ammo for nearly 10 years, as well as other opportunities, but they blew it. Corbyn got beat my May and BOJO FFS, hardly political or competent powerhouses.
In 2017 Labour got almost as many votes as they could for the guy in charge and his policies, there was nobody else to get, and you can't expect people to completely change their views in an instant and move over to where Labour are, and with JC in charge. It wasn't a bad result for those policies and the guy in charge, but those polices and guy in charge have a limit which is 60 seats short of a majority. If they and Corbyn had a clear idea what they wanted to do about brexit then they could have got more votes, but they didn't.
It's not games, it's people voting for policies, people and parties who they like, if your character and leadership don't appeal, then you just lose.
It's not just the centre, it's Labour balancing the Tories and also has other aspects at play like the SNP, LD, Greens, DUP etc, they don't need many seats to play a major part. As we've seen in recent elections.
As if you're depressed about a massive projected labour lead, were you happy when JC got beat by May and hammered by BoJo?
The country you want is not the country which exists, and certainly not for the electorate we have, you just need to accept that, just make sure you vote, even if it's for the greens or whatever, or move somewhere else where they do fit your criteria, but that will be a short list.