Corbyn backpeddles on vow to carry on as leader if Labour lose
JEREMY Corbyn has rowed back from suggestions he could remain Labour leader even if he fails to gain power in the general election.
Mr Corbyn was quoted by BuzzFeed News as saying he would be “carrying on” regardless of the result on June 8, telling the website: “I was elected leader of this party and I’ll stay leader of this party.”
But after he officially launched Labour’s General Election campaign, he claimed he meant he would be leader because he would have won the poll and become prime minister.
“No, I told them I would carry on as leader because we’ll have won the election by then,” Mr Corbyn told BBC News.
Asked by journalists if he would stay on if he loses the election, he added: “The answer is we’re fighting to win this election.”
In his Manchester speech in front of cheering supporters, Labour MPs and the shadow cabinet, Mr Corbyn insisted “Brexit is settled”, in an attempt to reassure Leave voters in the party’s heartlands that internal party splits have been resolved and the UK would leave the European Union if he becomes PM.
A senior Labour source reiterated Mr Corbyn’s point after BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg asked him at least five times if the UK would leave “come hell or high water” and whatever the outcome of the negotiations.
Replying, the Labour leader said there was a “clear vote” and stressed he would enter negotiations looking to achieve the party’s primary goal of tariff-free access to the single market, stressing at one point “we’ll get the good deal with Europe”.
The source said Mr Corbyn’s position has not changed, adding: “The issue is settled” and rejected suggestions the interview had raised questions about Labour’s position.
In his speech, the Opposition leader vowed that a Labour government would give British people the chance to “take our wealth back” from tax cheats, rip-off bosses and greedy bankers.
At the set-piece event, Mr Corbyn warned there will be “a reckoning” if he wins power in the June 8 poll and breaks up a system rigged in favour of the wealthy and against ordinary workers.
He was joined on stage by Andy Burnham, who last week missed a photocall with the leader on the evening of his election as metro mayor of Greater Manchester in one of the few points of light in Labour’s gloomy local elections.
And he was introduced by Coronation Street and Broadchurch actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, who told cheering activists that they had a month to ensure that a Labour victory turned the UK into “a society that truly gives a toss about stuff”.
Mr Corbyn said that in the coming days Labour would be spelling out the details of a “plan for Britain” to transform the country and change an economy which was “still rigged in favour of the rich and powerful”.
“Today, I say to tax cheats, the ripoff bosses, the greedy bankers; enough is enough,” he declared.
Mr Corbyn noted the Sunday Times Rich List last weekend found the 1,000 best-off people in the country had seen their wealth grow by 14% in the last year.
“Imagine the outcry if public sector workers put in for a 14% pay rise,” he said. “But it’s no surprise that the richest have got even richer after the tens of billions the Tories have handed them in tax cuts.”
Mr Corbyn acknowledged Labour faced a “big... challenge” following last week’s local elections, which saw the party shed more than 380 councillors. He accepted many voters were “sceptical and undecided ... not sure which way to turn”, adding: “Who can blame them? People are alienated from politics and politicians.
“Our Westminster system is broken and our economy is rigged. Both are run in the interests of the few.”
He said he expected “hostility” for challenging the vested interests that benefit from the system, but urged voters not to “resign themselves to things the way they are, underestimating just how many more burdens the Tories could impose if their mission to rig the system for the rich isn’t halted.”
Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron, who has promised a second referendum on any Brexit deal, said: “Corbyn’s claim that Brexit is ‘settled’ is further proof of his inability to stand up to the Tories on the most important issue facing our country.”
Conservative chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin denounced Mr Corbyn’s speech as “angry, divisive and chaotic”.
“He didn’t mention the deficit or controlling immigration, because he’d wreck our economy with higher taxes and more debt,” said Sir Patrick. “And he’s too weak to stand up to the leaders of 27 EU countries in Brexit negotiations, whereas every vote for Theresa May strengthens her hand to get the good deal this country needs.”