Corbyn accuses Starmer of ‘not being honest about the past’ after criticism of 2019 campaign

Starmer refuses to say Corbyn would have made a good PM in BBC election debate

Jeremy Corbyn has accused Sir Keir Starmer of ‘not being honest’ when the current party leader said he knew that Labour would lose the 2019 general election.

In an awkward exchange on the Sky News election debate earlier this month, Sir Keir was pressed by Beth Rigby about ditching his left wing policies once becoming leader of Labour. Asked whether he had meant it when he said his predecessor would make a great prime minister, Sir Keir replied: “I was certain we would lose the 2019 election. We were not ready. I was certain we would lose it.”

He added: “I did campaign for Labour, of course I did. I will openly say I campaigned for Labour. I wanted good colleagues to be returned into the Labour Party, and I wanted a party that was capable of being changed so we can face the future again.”

In separate comments he described Rishi Sunak’s manifesto as “Jeremy Corbyn-style”, which is load everything into the wheelbarrow, don’t provide the funding and hope that nobody notices”.

Mr Corbyn, who is standing as an independent in Islington North after being expelled by the Labour Party, hit out at Sir Keir’s recollection of events.

At a canvassing event this week, he told The Independent: “He never said that at the time. He never had that conversation with me at the time.

“We did campaign together, he endorsed the 2017 and the 2019 manifestos and indeed used them in his leadership bid for the Labour Party. I just think we need to be honest about the past.”

Sir Keir was elevated to Mr Corbyn’s cabinet shortly after the firebrand socialist was made leader in September 2015 and was later promoted to being shadow Brexit minister.

He became a prominent and influential minister during Mr Corbyn’s leadership and campaigned for Labour in both the 2017 and 2019 elections.

After Mr Corbyn’s catastrophic defeat in the 2019 general election Mr Starmer ran for the leadership on a left wing platform and pledged to keep many of Mr Corbyn’s policies, such as the nationalisation of utilities.

However, he has since been strongly criticised by the left of the Labour Party for backtracking or abandoning many of the pledges he made during the 2020 leadership contest.

Momentum, a grassroots organisation representing the left wing of the party, previously said the promises he made lay in “tatters” and urged him to change course.

It added: “To avoid charges of serial dishonesty and ensure a Labour Government actually faces up to the scale of the wreckage it will inherit from the Tories, Starmer should change course, listen to Party Conference and lay out a bold vision of a transformed country which delivers for the many, not the few.”