So much for the much-vaunted “revenge reshuffle”. In the end it was little more than a shuffle, a re-arranging of the deck-chairs on a liner destined to drift aimlessly in opposition for at least the next few years. Nevertheless Jeremy Corbyn’s start to 2016 does present some insight into how the Westminster media and body politic relate to each other in this post-New Labour era.

We are becoming accustomed to the sight of Mr Corbyn’s front door, since his sweeping election to the party leadership last summer. Scarcely a week goes by without some little drama or other outside the garden gate of that terraced home. One cannot help wondering how his Islington neighbours feel about the presence of that seemingly-amiable guy down the road. Until recently he might just have been the elderly jogger with the poor dress sense who always said hello on his way to the park.

These days Laura Kuenssberg, Faisal Islam and that excitable woman Allegra from Newsnight might be there, jostling among the photographers, furry microphones akimbo as they lob terribly urgent-sounding questions at the poor chap as he attempts to get to work; questions that seldom attract a useful reply.

The theatrics of Westminster have their own style. The invariably polite Mr Corbyn and his supporters are apt to feign surprise, even dismay, at such intense media interest. But they are playing a role in this daily vignette, as much as anyone else. Sometimes each briefer might come front of stage and deliver narrative soliloquy, sotte voce, to help us keep track of who is stabbing whom.

The “revenge reshuffle” talk emerged over last week amidst some intense and occasionally rather obvious briefing. Many Corbynites within and without Westminster believe Shadow Cabinet dissenters – many of whom took a different line to Mr Corbyn during the Syria bombing vote – should have been punished for doing so. Shadow Foreign Secretary Hillary Benn spoke in favour of the Tory motion and was applauded from the Tory benches. Surely he would be sacked for this heinous act alone? Shadow defence spokesperson Maria Eagle supports renewing Trident, so it was assumed that she was also for the chop.

The last few days witnessed familiar briefing and counter-briefing. By the weekend Mr Corbyn seemed set for a major clear-out, although these stories were quickly down-played by leadership sources. Perhaps they realised that the fevered speculation was distracting Labour and the media from the myriad pickles into which the Cameron Government has blundered regarding the Middle East, flood defences and EU membership.

The Conservatives thought they had won the next General Election already when Mr Corbyn emerged as Leader of the Opposition. How they must hope for similar distractions to keep the focus away from their own failures over the coming months and years.

On the one side, Mr Corbyn’s supporters want decisive control of Labour and have not been afraid to take on the Parliamentary party, a majority of whose members did not vote for him. Michael Dugher, MP for Barnsley East and previously manager of Andy Burnham’s failed campaign, lost his shadow culture job yesterday and claimed his leader had told him he did not like an article he had written about the threats to dissenters. It is worth quoting his experience in detail:

“Syria was not just an issue on which Labour was divided, the country had different views as well. It's about how we conduct ourselves when we have these differences of opinion. I believed Jeremy when he said we could have a free vote, we'd all be able to exercise our own judgments. But then we'd respect one another's opinion,” said Mr Dugher.

“But what you saw in the aftermath is this onslaught against colleagues who had taken a different view to Jeremy, that somehow they had acted in a way that was disloyal and contrary to Labour's values and that must be removed in the reshuffle. I think that was incredibly regrettable.

“I decided to speak out because of what we've seen in recent weeks, a number of very good, hardworking, loyal members of the shadow cabinet being systematically trashed in terms of their reputations in the newspapers, by people in the employment of Jeremy Corbyn. I thought someone should speak up and call that out for what it is."

There is a clear pattern. Corbyn supporters issue dark threats – overt and covert – to MPs whom they believe to be part of a New Labour rump that needs to be shorn of the new, improved party. Blair loyalists who despair of a Corbyn-led party ever forming an effective opposition, never mind government, brief against the leader and particularly controversial figures such as shadow chancellor John McDonnell. There is talk of re-selections and breakaways, revenge and re-shuffles. Some may claim this to be a kind of “new politics” when in fact it continues to resemble the factional warfare that beset Labour more than 30 years ago.

And where does it leave Labour in Scotland? Still in its own pickle, tartan flavoured perhaps, but arguably even further from power than the party is at Westminster. When leading UK Labour figures appear to have publicly written off the party’s chances at this year’s Scottish elections, it is difficult to discern much of a strategy emerging from the Scottish party.

The fault for this cannot be placed at the door of Kezia Dugdale’s leadership, at least not yet. At times, in the wake of last May’s poll tsunami and the publication of successive polls predicting an easy third-term SNP victory, Ms Dugdale would be excused for wondering why she ever wanted the job. Perhaps she is an incurable optimist who really believes that things can only get better.

However, it is puzzling to hear voices say her chances may be enhanced by a simple declaration of independence from UK Labour. First, such a move would cut off London funds and campaign support, as well as be seen to be motivated only as a cynical ploy aimed at convincing voters that the party has short its Westminster influence; an opportunity unlikely to be ignored by the SNP electoral machine.

And anyway, what is the gain in Labour “independence” in Scotland? It cannot be so that Labour can oppose Trident, just like the SNP. The Scottish Parliament has no powers on defence spending. Nor can it be to demonstrate that it opposes austerity, for surely so does Labour in the rest of the UK?

Ms Dugdale is in a difficult position. But she is unlikely to work a way out of it by imitating the SNP. Her best option is to spot a few winnable battles, defend the rump of her party’s position at Holyrood, and construct a positive reason – if there is one – for Labour to rebuild in Scotland over the coming years.

The bizarre goings-on within the Westminster PLP will not help her, if they reinforce the impression that a Corbyn-led party cannot win a general election. But a Scottish breakaway surely cannot help her either.