Keir Starmer says he was never a friend of Jeremy Corbyn and claims they haven’t spoken for two-and-a-half years – despite having previously backed his Labour predecessor for PM

• Keir Starmer backtracks on his past description of Jeremy Corbyn as a ‘friend’ 

Sir Keir Starmer today claimed Jeremy Corbyn was never a friend of his and revealed he hasn’t spoken to his predecessor as Labour leader for two-and-a-half years.

In an effort to further distance himself from Mr Corbyn, Sir Keir also suggested he had never backed the veteran left-winger’s leadership while serving as a shadow minister.

Sir Keir last week formally blocked Mr Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election and branded him an electoral liability for the party.

Amid a bitter row within Labour over the action, allies of Mr Corbyn pointed to how Sir Keir had publicly described his predecessor as ‘a friend as well as a colleague’ when he was elected party leader in April 2020.

Almost exactly three years on, Sir Keir this morning backtracked on his past description of Mr Corbyn.

Sir Keir Starmer claimed Jeremy Corbyn was never a friend of his and revealed he hasn’t spoken to his predecessor as Labour leader for two-and-a-half years

Sir Keir last week formally blocked Mr Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election and branded him an electoral liability for the party

Sir Keir also suggested he had never backed the veteran left-winger’s leadership while serving as a shadow minister

Sir Keir told LBC: ‘I think and hope that my position is very clear. Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate at the next election.

‘That is a decision of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee… so as we go into the next election Jeremy Corbyn will not be a Labour candidate.’

Pressed about whether Mr Corbyn was ever a friend, Sir Keir said: ‘No, not in the sense that we went to visit each other or anything like that.

‘I worked with him as a colleague. As I say, I haven’t spoken to him now for two-and-a-half years.’

Sir Keir served as a shadow minister throughout Mr Corbyn’s leadership of Labour and publicly campaigned for him to become prime minister at the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

But he today claimed he had never backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the party, and had only accepted a role in his shadow cabinet to maintain an ‘effective opposition’.

Sir Keir added: ‘Let’s just run through it. I didn’t vote for him in 2015 when he stood as leader.

‘I wanted him to stand down in 2016, he won again. I again didn’t vote for him.

‘But I did take the view that we needed an effective opposition, that I shouldn’t just walk off the stage.’

Sir Keir was a backer of Andy Burnham’s bid for the Labour leadership in 2015, which was the first contest won by Mr Corbyn.

He was then a supporter of Owen Smith the following year when Mr Corbyn faced a leadership challenge.

Mr Corbyn last week accused Sir Keir of a ‘disgraceful’ move to block him from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election.

He claimed it ‘shows contempt’ for those who backed the party at the 2017 and 2019 general elections, when he was leader.

The 73-year-old also offered his clearest hint yet that he would stand at the next election as an independent candidate against Labour, saying: ‘I have spent my life fighting for a fairer society on behalf of the people of Islington North and I have no intention of stopping now.’

Mr Corbyn has sat as an independent MP in the House of Commons since he was stripped of the Labour whip in October 2020.

This followed a row over his response to a damning report into anti-Semitism within the party when he was leader.

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