Corbyn warns Starmer against using big majority to ‘crush dissent’

Sir Keir Starmer has imposed a “straitjacket of conformity” on Labour that will lead to a voter backlash unless he tackles inequality and sky-high rents, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

Starmer’s predecessor said he expected the Labour party in government to “crush dissent” and warned that the optimism brought about by Labour winning a big majority “will disappear pretty quickly” unless the party in government starts delivering on policies often associated with the left.

Corbyn cautioned the Labour leader against being “overconfident” if he wins a big majority, drawing parallels with the “overreach” of Margaret Thatcher’s poll tax, which helped trigger a Conservative rebellion that ultimately brought her down.

The pair have ended up as political rivals after Starmer took over the Labour leadership following the party’s 2019 election defeat, having served as Corbyn’s shadow Brexit Secretary.

Starmer has since barred Corbyn from being a Labour MP over his response to anti-Semitism under his leadership, and steered the party away from the left-wing policies advocated by his predecessor.

Despite claims of a “changed Labour”, Starmer has nevertheless faced repeated questions on why he supported Corbyn’s bids to become prime minister in the 2017 and 2019 elections, responding by claiming he moderated the then-leader’s more radical views and that he did not think he was capable of winning.

But speaking to i, Corbyn cast doubt on Starmer’s claims to have influenced Labour policy on Nato and the Salisbury poisonings, saying he made “very few contributions” other than advocating a second Brexit referendum, which contributed to the party’s crushing 2019 election defeat alongside concerns about the leadership.

The veteran politician, who is standing as an independent in the Islington North seat he has represented since 1983 having been barred from representing the party by Starmer, also took aim at Labour’s more centrist manifesto, acknowledging it addresses housebuilding but criticised the policy platform for not saying enough about social housing.

Corbyn noted that the Labour leader’s main goal is to drive economic growth but “growth for who?” while warning that they “talk about business many, many times in the manifesto and inequality once – not a good sign”.

Speaking to i after a campaign rally, Corbyn insisted taking into account the views of left-wingers would be “constructive” for the Labour leader.

“The shimmer of winning an election having a big majority will disappear pretty quickly, unless they start delivering on people’s worries and concerns – young people in debt because they’ve been to uni, many young people in every city living in very expensive private rented accommodation, and horrible levels of overcrowding and many council and housing association places.”

Describing the Labour leader’s leadership as “authoritarian”, the former leader drew parallels with Sir Tony Blair, who appointed “identifiably socialist figures” such as Frank Dobson, Chris Smith, Tony Banks and Robin Cook to his Cabinet, while allowing the likes of Corbyn to stay in the party despite his multiple rebellions.

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“I don’t see any appetite for political diversity by the Labour leadership at all. I just see a straitjacket of conformity.

“You’ve got to keep the trust of people. If they crush dissent in the Labour Party, which they’ve been very good at doing then they actually give themselves a fool’s paradise of agreement and they have driven the other people out, who are actually very constructive.”

Meanwhile, Corbyn took aim at Starmer for what he said were “awful” comments about a failure to deport asylum seekers from Bangladesh.

And he dismissed Starmer’s claims to have softened Mr Corbyn’s positions on issues of national security – one of the Labour leader’s key defences against criticism for serving in the left-winger’s shadow cabinet.

“He made very few contributions on anything except the Brexit stuff,” Corbyn said.

“He was the shadow Brexit Secretary, so that kind of makes sense. I don’t remember him saying too much about anything else.

“And the whole issue of Brexit to me was: we had to recognise the importance of the 2016 referendum, but also try and bring people together.

“I mean, if you are poor, on housing benefit, and living in Islington, are you any different to being poor and being on housing benefit in Sunderland?

“You probably voted differently on Brexit, but your economic interests are actually the same.

“And what I wanted to do was get a dynamic relationship with Europe and I think we could have got that from [EU Brexit negotiator Michel] Barnier, which would have been a customs union agreement with the European Union.

“Now that might still come.

“But Keir essentially pushed very hard for the second referendum which eventually became party policy and then didn’t vote against the Johnson agreement when it was put to parliament after the 2019 election, which I thought was kind of weird.”

Election 2024

Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer and other party leaders are on the campaign trail, and i‘s election live blog is the go-to place for everything on the general election.

Reform has been under fire after Andrew Parker, a canvasser, was caught using a racial slur about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Nigel Farage has expressed ‘dismay’ at this.

Meanwhile, i has compiled the main parties’ pledges on key issues – read our breakdown of NHS, education, and defence. You can also read each party’s key manifesto pledges in our party breakdowns of the Tories, Green Party, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Reform UK.