It is set to berancorous and protracted, with one faction keen to bury the Blairite modernisation project, condemning it as apostasy, and another arguing that, on the contrary, it was the betrayal of Blairism that caused the debacle.
But the risks of future economic shocks will multiply so long as we remain locked in a rancorous political culture with a leadership more inclined to public relations than hardheaded pragmatic recognition of what must be done to restore America's vitality.