I could have won election if I was leader, says Smith

THE Labour MP who lost the party’s leadership election to Jeremy Corbyn has claimed he could be prime minister now if he had beaten the Islington MP.

Owen Smith said Labour might have won the general election if he had been in charge instead. His party defied expectations on election night, winning 262 seats, an increase of 32. Speaking after the result, Mr Smith admitted he was “clearly wrong” about his leader and he “took his hat off to him”.

However, asked on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday whether he would have done as well in June’s election, he said: “I don’t know, I hope so.

“I hope I might have even got us to win, but I can’t know that, Sophy.” He added: “Look, I think Jeremy has clearly galvanised young people in this country. We’ve seen that not just in the election, but since.

“I met people during the election who hadn’t voted ever, certainly people who hadn’t voted for a long while, who felt Jeremy was speaking to and for them and that Labour was speaking to and for them.”

Mr Smith was brought back into the shadow cabinet by Mr Corbyn after the election as the shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland.

The decision marked a shift in Mr Corbyn’s strategy of hiring close supporters since Mr Smith once appeared to call the Labour leader a “lunatic”. He served in the top team previously as shadow work and pensions secretary but resigned the position in June last year following the EU referendum.