I don't think they're sellouts. As they themselves said IIRC, this is a capitalist system, and if you want to get anywhere you have to work within that. Besides, they're currently signed to No Masters, which is a pretty small-time, mainly Northern trad folk label, alongside similarly political bands like Coope, Boyes and Simpson. So at least in folk terms, they're authentic, if not in punk terms.
I've always held that they never made "pop garbage", although I generally find that Chumbawamba fans disagree with me. Nevertheless, lyrically I think it's fair to say that Anarchy is very much a political album, and only one song on Tubthumper concerns getting wasted (and even then, it's called "Tubthumping". It's not an entirely apolitical song). "Homophobia" is one of the greatest political songs ever written, to my mind.
Anyway, so no, as far as I'm concerned they don't deserve to have lost any credibility, although I suppose since I'm more concerned with folk than punk it's possible the fanbase would disagree. As far as I can tell, Readymades onward seem to be pretty well respected. It's just a shame that their reputation has never fully recovered from "Tubthumping".
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