Facts
When asked by ITV News to rate Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership out of 10, Sir Keir Starmer refused to answer the question saying Jeremy Corbyn is “a colleague and a friend and he’s led us through some really difficult times in the labour party and I don’t want to trivialise that by giving him a number out of 10. I respect him and thank him for what he’s done…”
In his campaign launch Starmer described the party’s 2017 manifesto as a “benchmark” and said: “We are not … going to trash the last four years.”
Since becoming leader Starmer has done everything he can to distance himself from his former leader and disown him. Most significantly, in November 2020 he withdrew the whip from Corbyn, effectively expelling him from the parliamentary Labour Party.
On 3 April 2023 when talking on LBC with Nick Ferrari, Starmer was asked “Is he [Jeremy Corbyn] a friend? Was he a friend?” to which Sir Keir responded “No … I haven’t spoken to him in two and a half years”
Verdict
Sir Keir Starmer was asked by Nick Ferrari in 2023 whether Corbyn had been a friend. He said he hadn’t, thus contradicting his earlier claim.
We emailed Sir Keir Starmer’s office and Labour offering them the chance to respond. We received no response.