We are the mainstream party now, says Corbyn
LABOUR is now the ‘mainstream’ political party in Britain, Jeremy Corbyn claimed last night.
Ahead of the party’s conference in Brighton next week, Mr Corbyn gave details of Labour’s preparations for an election – including plans to target top Tories such as Amber Rudd, Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith.
Labour gained 30 seats in the June general election, closing the gap on the Tories to 56 as Theresa May lost her majority.
Mr Corbyn told the Guardian: ‘The election has changed politics in this country. We are now the mainstream. The Government lacks any sense of direction. They are hiding behind parliamentary power grabs to avoid scrutiny.’
Vowing to ‘ challenge the Tories at every step’, he added: ‘It is a Government that is in disarray. We will keep up pressure in Parliament.’
Mr Corbyn, who plans to restart his tour of marginal constituencies, said: ‘We are ready for an election and we will keep on demanding that this takes place in Parliament.’
He said Labour was already selecting candidates in key seats and putting detailed policy papers together.
‘We are preparing by campaigning over the country, continuing to challenge austerity,’ he said. ‘And we have made enormous progress in changing the political debate. The campaign showed what Labour can do when we go out with a message of hope.’
The Labour leader wants to hold rallies in seats held by senior Tories including Home Secretary Miss Rudd, who has a wafer-thin majority in Haststarts ings and Rye; Education Secretary Justine Greening, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns and exleader Mr Duncan Smith, as well as targeting Mr Johnson’s Uxbridge and Ruislip South – where the Foreign Secretary has a majority of 5,000.
The party conference, which on Sunday, looks set to feature a speech from London Mayor Sadiq Khan after he had initially been denied a platform appearance.
Under Mr Corbyn’s drive to reform the party, more time at the conference is set to be devoted to members rather than set-piece speeches from leading politicians.
But the committee responsible for the timetable decided Mr Khan should be given a speaking slot – and Mr Corbyn’s office is understood to be ‘relaxed’ about the situation. A source close to Mr Khan said the mayor had ‘better start writing’ a speech.
Mr Corbyn was given a boost ahead of the gathering as an Ipsos MORI poll gave Labour (44 per cent) a four-point lead over the Tories.
‘We are ready for an election’