Corbyn could yet form a minority government, top Momentum official says

A leading Momentum figure today said he was “disappointed” at Labour’s third consecutive election defeat but hailed a “big, bold, positive campaign” and held out the prospect that Jeremy Corbyn could enter Downing Street.

Adam Klug, national organiser, spoke out as Theresa May fell short of an overall majority.

She is expected to go to Buckingham Palace this lunchtime to seek permission to form a government, with informal support from the Democratic Unionist Party, but some on the left felt Jeremy Corbyn could yet take power.

Klug, part of Corbyn’s activist praetorian guard, spoke out after the Labour leader said it was “pretty clear” who had won the vote.

“We are ready to serve the people who have put their trust in us,” Corbyn said as he ruled out any any “pacts or deals”

Today Klug told the BBC that the strength of Labour’s campaign had put it in the position where it could spare Britain from years of more Tory austerity.

“[I am] disappointed to not have a majority but I think we have seen a big, bold, positive campaign and a vision for the country which has been incredibly popular and, if you think of seven weeks ago, Theresa May called this election thinking it was going to be a Tory landslide and she would have a majority of 100, Labour were polling at 24 per cent, and we are now over 40 per cent. It has been an incredible campaign.”

When asked if it would prove “messy” for Labour, as the second largest party, to form a government, he responded: “Minority government – not a coalition but on a deal by deal basis, is what my understanding is – that would be fantastic if that was able to be achieved [then] the British people would not have to live under Tory austerity anymore and I think it would set a very different direction of travel”.