One of Labour's biggest challenges in Kent is not just how it takes on the Conservatives but how it can roll back the purple tide of Ukip.

True, with one exception, the Conservative dominance in the county is back where it was in the heyday of Margaret Thatcher, holding every single parliamentary seat.

It also holds the reins of power in most of our councils, with the exception of one: Thanet council, the first in the country to be run by Ukip.

And it is Ukip which presents the greatest conundrum for Mr Corbyn.

Nigel Farage may have lost at the seventh time of asking to become an MP but over the last two years, Ukip has been steadily building up a stronghold in Kent.

It announced its arrival as a political force by taking 17 seats at the Kent County Council election in 2013, the most of anywhere in the country.

That was followed by its rout at the European election where it came first and then this year delivered Ukip its first ever council.

And that is why the new Labour leader will have to find a way of fighting on two fronts.

The party will need to offer a compelling programme to appeal to disaffected Labour voters who turned their back on Ed Miliband and went over to the purple army in their tens of thousands.

On one level, it is hard to see how his sympathetic pronouncements over refugees and asylum seekers are likely to win many over.

Voters' concerns over the surge in asylum seekers and economic migrants have often been top concerns in opinion polls.

However, his campaign did at least demonstrate that he is a persuasive politician who has - rather like Nigel Farage - got an authentic voice that has struck a chord with those fed up with Westminster politics.

But he cannot expect Ukip, even with its capacity to shoot itself in the foot, to simply disappear.

He will need all his political guile to offer voters an alternative prospectus come the election in 2020.

Assuming that he will still be in the job.