CORBYN: I CAN BE PRIME MINISTER IN MONTHS
May is a ‘dead woman walking’ as she brings back Gove
JEREMY Corbyn has declared he expects to become Prime Minister if a second snap general election takes place.
His confident remark came as humiliated Theresa May brought arch-rival Michael Gove back into her Cabinet. Ex-Chancellor George Osborne said: “She is a dead woman walking.”
The agenda we have put forward has gained amazing support JEREMY CORBYN IN TV INTERVIEW YESTERDAY
THERESA May was yesterday accused of “squatting” in Downing Street as Jeremy Corbyn vowed he was ready to move in.
The Labour leader said it is “quite possible” the hung Parliament chaos could force the country back to the polls – and next time he expected outright victory. His confident statement came as Tory big beast Michael Heseltine warned his party it was offering Mr Corbyn a path to No10 unless it tackled its Brexit civil war. Meanwhile, a poll put Labour ahead of the Tories for the first time in years and a separate survey found Mrs May and Mr Corbyn were now level among voters over who would be the best PM. Vindicated Mr Corbyn yesterday vowed Labour was “ready any time” there was another general election. He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I think it’s quite possible there’ll be an election later this year or early next year, and that might be a good thing because we cannot go on with a period of great instability. “We have a programme, we have support and we’re ready to fight another election campaign as soon as may be. “Because we want to be able to serve the people of this country on the agenda we put forward, which is transformative and has gained amazing levels of support.”Mr Corbyn also revealed Labour has raised millions of pounds as he sought to reassure activists the party has the funds available to fight another snap campaign.
He said supporters had pumped in an average donation of £22 each.
The 68-year-old leader, whose energy in the gruelling election run-in was widely praised, shrugged off questions about whether he was still committed for the long term. He grinned: “Look at me, I’ve got youth on my side.” One of Mr Corbyn’s most senior allies backed up his insistence that he could soon be in power amid confusion over a deal between the Tories and the Democratic Unionist Party. Asked if Labour was preparing for government, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry told Sky News: “Yes, we have to be, we have to be absolutely on our toes.”
Dismissing claims Mr Corbyn lost the election after securing 262 seats, compared with the Conservatives’ 318, she predicted Tory chaos could open the door to a Labour administration.
She said: “Let’s see how the Tories do, let’s see if they are able to hold it together and if not we will step up, we would love the opportunity to serve. We’ve got Theresa May squatting in Downing Street, we’ve got a full rebellion in the Conservative Party, we’ve got no idea what’s going to be in this Queen’s Speech.
“They have a manifesto that’s been completely repudiated by the public and indeed by Tory MPs themselves, and no idea what the DUP will agree to or not.”
Ruling out potential coalitions, she said Labour could put forward its own plans for power without another general election.
Ms Thornberry continued: “We are not going to get into bed with anyone.
“We would be an alternative government, we would be a minority.
“We would put forward our version of the Queen’s Speech which is very popular. Our policies are popular, our policies are what the country wants.
We will put forward a Queen’s Speech, we will put forward a Budget and it would be up to the other parties, and indeed some Conservative MPs, to decide if they wanted to support it or not.” And “with one more push we can be a majority Government”, Ms Thorn- berry insisted. Her remark was backed up by a post-election opinion poll by Survation – the only firm to forecast Thursday’s bombshell result – which showed Labour ahead of the Tories.
It put Mr Corbyn’s party on 45% with the Tories trailing on 39% – a result that would propel the Labour leader to No10 with an overall majority.
In a separate survey by YouGov, on the question of who would make the best Prime Minister, Mr Corbyn and Mrs May both scored 39%.
It marks a huge turnaround from March when the PM commanded a massive 38% lead over her rival.
Meanwhile, former Tory Deputy PM Lord Heseltine warned MPs that ongoing Brexit uncertainty could hand power to Labour.
He told ITV’s Peston on Sunday show: “Unless they address that, we are in a very difficult situation where it is conceivable that the next election will put Jeremy Corbyn into No 10 Downing Street.”