When the Labour Party gathers for its annual conference in Liverpool this weekend, it will have reason to be cheerful – if all it is concerned about is numbers. Party membership is around 500,000, making it the biggest political party in the UK.

This remarkable increase has more than doubled the membership it had at the general election in 2015. Some of it is due to recent drives by supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and his challenger, Owen Smith, to recruit new members ahead of Labour’s leadership contest. The biggest surge came in the aftermath of the EU referendum but even though many of the new members are so deeply concerned about Britain’s decision to exit the European Union that they have joined Labour, the concern is not being translated into the party’s activity in the House of Commons. After a half-hearted campaign to Remain from Mr Corbyn, he has yet to ask a question about Brexit during Prime Minister’s Questions. The Shadow Cabinet is so thin on talent after mass resignations in June that Emily Thornberry, Shadow Foreign Secretary, is doubling up as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union – otherwise known as the Brexit minister.