In the context of the turbulent and unpredictable few months in politics, the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour party leader ranks as the least surprising.

The uncertainty now is how the party responds to his appeal for unity and his apparent willingness to hold out not one but several olive branches to his critics - and whether those critics choose to accept them.

In terms of the party’s prospects in Kent, it is hard to see how his manifesto will be attractive and compelling enough to attract back the many Labour supporters (not members) who have drifted to UKIP, won over largely by its immigration policy

There have been a series of council by-elections in Kent that suggest UKIP’s vote is not, as many had thought, on the slide but is proving relatively durable.

A key test of Labour’s current appeal will come in a by-election in Medway next month where a five-way battle looms for the prize of representing Strood South ward.

This has the intriguing back drop of being an election in a ward where the current UKIP councillor Catriona Brown Reckless - the wife of former Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless - is standing down.

Local Labour activists are presenting this as a two-way battle between it and the Conservatives but that may prove wishful thinking.

The re-elected leader has also chosen to mark his victory by promising a national “day of action” against the Conservative plans for more grammars.

This will turn the spotlight on Kent - the largest wholly selective authority in the country - but will have the impact of turning it away from the internal tensions about Theresa May’s plans within the Conservative party.

As diametrically opposed as they are politically, Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage are politicians cut from the same cloth.

Both are political outsiders whose central appeal rests on a determination to speak up for “ordinary people” rather than the political establishment which they disparagingly referred to as the elite.

Both have successfully exploited the widespread public antipathy to politicians.

There are not many political leaders who are capable of drawing big crowds in the way Corbyn does and Farage did.

However, there is a certain irony in Corbyn’s disavowal of “personality politics.”

He is loved unconditionally by supporters who see him as the ultimate un-spun politician, principled, uncompromising and authentically plain speaking.

Unlikely bed fellows though they are, both have thrived on promises to bring about a “different kind of politics.”

Time will tell if under Corbyn, Labour can cure its Southern Discomfort.