Jeremy Corbyn would have made a better prime minister than Boris Johnson had he been elected in 2019, Sir Keir Starmer said.
Sir Keir dodged a series of questions during a BBC Question Time debate on Thursday night over whether he truly believed his predecessor would have made a “great” prime minister, as he said five years ago.
Host Fiona Bruce repeatedly challenged him over his one-time statement, with Sir Keir insisting: “It wasn’t a question that really arose because I didn’t think we were going to win the election.”
But when Bruce asked for a “yes” or “no” answer to whether he meant it, Sir Keir insisted that Mr Corbyn would have made a better prime minister than Mr Johnson.
The Labour leader has in recent weeks sought to distance himself from Mr Corbyn, while his party is forecast by opinion polls to sweep to victory in the election.
He criticised the Conservatives’ election offer as a “Jeremy Corbyn-style manifesto” that would “load everything into the wheelbarrow” without explaining how to pay for it.
An audience member asked the Labour leader about his remarks. “You criticised the Tory manifesto as Jeremy Corbyn-like,” they said, adding: “Anything you want can go in it, nothing is costed. Why did you back his original manifesto in 2019?”
Sir Keir replied: “In 2019 I campaigned for the Labour Party as I’ve always campaigned for the Labour Party.”
He said that afterwards it became clear the electorate “thought it was too much and they wanted to see something which was fully costed and fully funded”.
Mr Corbyn has accused his successor of attempting to rewrite history with his recent comments about the 2019 Labour manifesto.
The now independent candidate for Islington North said Sir Keir had displayed “double standards” in expressing this opinion now, but not while serving in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
The BBC Question Time special also featured Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and Scotland’s first minister John Swinney for the SNP, with prime minister Rishi Sunak up last.
Sir Ed, who was first in the line-up, faced difficult questions about his record in the coalition years and as minister in the Horizon scandal.
Mr Sunak also faced tough questions and at one point was met with boos and cries of “shame” when he claimed he would take the UK out of the European Court of Human Rights.
