Sometimes I think some Labour people want to be in perpetual opposition.
Yup - I met a load of them when I became a Labour activist in the mid 90s. Rather than wanting to be in government so that they could actually change things (which is often messy and requires a level of political compromise to gain and retain sufficient electoral support to be in government), they far preferred to be in opposition, complaining from the by-lines as long as they could retain the purity of their ideologies. And in doing so help no-one.
In my constituency - one that elected a Labour MP (and an old school left wing one to boot) in 1997, for the first time since 1945 - what did they do? Many resigned and joined the Socialist Workers Party so they could 'change things' by handing out leaflets in the City centre on a Saturday!!!