Keir Starmer on LBC: Labour leader refuses to say if he’d have served under Jeremy Corbyn in government

Keir Starmer has refused to say whether he would have served in government if former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had won the 2017 or 2019 elections.

In an appearance on LBC with Nick Ferrari this morning, Starmer was asked by a caller whether he would have sat in a Corbyn-led cabinet had the now-expelled former Labour leader become Prime Minister.

Starmer served in his predecessor’s shadow cabinet covering the Brexit portfolio, but dismissed the question as a “hypothetical” and said: “I didn’t think we’d win either of those…there’s no getting away from that.”

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Starmer also appeared to dismiss the idea he had signed off on Labour’s 2019 manifesto. “I was at the manifesto meeting because I was responsible for the Brexit section,” he said, adding: “It was Jeremy Corbyn manifesto.”

Jeremy Corbyn, who had the party whip withdrawn following his reaction to the EHRC report into Labour antisemitism, is running against the party in Islington North as an independent at this general election.

Serving in government “didn’t cross my mind because I didn’t think we would win,” he added.

Starmer defended having served in the shadow cabinet though, saying there were “things I thought needed doing”, including on Labour’s stances on Brexit, NATO and anti-semitism. He also “wanted good colleagues to win”.

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