"Deluded": Ed Balls' take on claim Corbyn deserves 10/10 for his election campaign
23 January 2020, 09:29
Ed Balls said Labour leadership hopeful Rebecca Long-Bailey is "deluded" if she thinks Jeremy Corbyn deserves top marks for his general election campaign.
Ms Long-Bailey was asked to rate Corbyn's leadership and gave him ten out of ten, despite the party slumping to a disappointing election defeat.
Nick Ferrari asked the former Shadow Chancellor for his thoughts on Ms Long-Bailey and he said: "Anybody who gives Jeremy Corbyn ten out of ten is deluded.
"I actually think that, of all the candidates, Rebecca Long-Bailey has showed real improvements with her performance in parliament and on TV in the last few years.
"I don't know her. There's part of me that likes her, there's a glint in her eye which I quite like.
"At the moment, her politics doesn't chime with mine. And the idea that Labour should spend the next three years mired in huge internal fights about selecting MPs - that was rejected when Tony Benn suggested it in the 1980s in the darkest period of Labour's history until now. That's not the way to do things."
Asked for his rating out of ten for Mr Corbyn, Mr Balls said: "He had the worst defeat since 1935. I'm not going to put a number on it, but it's markedly less than five."
Watch his interview at the top of the page.
