Me as PM? It’s a daunting thought, admits Corbyn

But he IS ready to wage war on wealth and take aim at privilege

JEREMY Corbyn admitted last night that he was daunted by the possibility of being the next prime minister – but insisted he was ready to take on the role.

And he claimed he would be ‘utterly determined’ to carry Labour’s programme into government.

His admission came after he launched an extraordinary attack on wealth yesterday – despite growing up in a 17th century manor house and going to private school.

The Labour leader pledged his party would put ‘people before privilege’ and said the scale of wealth inequality in the UK was the sign of a ‘sick economy’.

It was in an interview with the BBC last night that he was asked if he was ready to be prime minister in a few weeks’ time if needs be. Mr Corbyn said: ‘Yes. Absolutely.’

Asked if he was daunted by this prospect, he replied: ‘Yes.’

He said he was ‘utterly determined to carry through into government our programme to bring about better social justice across this country, the environmental aims that we’ve got and to provide hope particularly for young people in our society’.

Earlier yesterday Mr Corbyn – who grew up in a seven-bedroom manor house in rural Shropshire, and attended an independent prep school before going on to a grammar school – declared: ‘The dramatic scale of wealth inequality in our country is a sign of a sick economy.

‘The system is broken when it inflates the wealth of the richest, while failing to invest in our future. This inequality doesn’t just undermine our future prosperity, it’s linked to all sorts of social problems, including violent crime, worse health outcomes and reduced access to education. And we know that concentrations of wealth generate unaccountable power, corrupting our politics.’

He was speaking as Labour unveiled its analysis of official data which, it said, laid bare the ‘dramatic scale’ of inequality in the UK. For example, the richest 10 per cent of Londoners have more than one and a half times more wealth than the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber.

Next week Mr Corbyn will preside over his party’s conference, at which local activists and union branches have put forward a slew of hard-Left motions.

They included calls for tax reforms to hit the rich by making council tax and national insurance more ‘progressive’, a four-day week with no loss of pay, and the compulsory purchase of empty homes.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has spoken out to back a motion to ‘ i ntegrate’ private schools into the state sector.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘The hypocrisy of the Left is breathtaking. Corbyn – a Marxist – went to private school and lived in a seven-bedroom manor house but now he wants to tackle privilege.

‘On top of all this, his colleague John McDonnell wants to get rid of all private schools.’

Tory chairman James Cleverly said: ‘Corbyn’s plans would leave the economy on life support.

‘Every Labour government has left office with unemployment higher than when they came in. Labour would wreck the economy and, just like last time, working people would pay the price.’

Mr Corbyn grew up in Yew Tree Manor, a 17th-century brick farmhouse. His parents bought the former hotel in 1956 and converted it into a seven-bedroom family home. The property, which sits on an acre of land, was put up for sale in 2015 for £650,000. Critics accuse Mr Corbyn of trying to pass off his former home as an ‘old farm’.

Despite his prep school and grammar school education, the Labour leader only gained two E grades at A-level.