Jeremy Corbyn would have been better PM than Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer claims under voters' grill in crucial Question Time debate – as Rishi vows to send Tories betting on election date

Jeremy Corbyn would have made a better Prime Minister than Boris Johnson, Sir Keir Starmer said last night.

The Labor leader was left feeling uneasy on live television as he was asked about his support for his predecessor, whom he twice tried to make prime minister.

Sir Keir became troubled when pressed on whether he truly believed his claim during the 2019 election that Mr Corbyn would make a “great prime minister”.

By that point he had served in Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet for four years and urged the public to make him prime minister in two consecutive elections.

But in recent times he has worked hard to distance himself from Mr Corbyn, who campaigned for years to abandon Britain's nuclear deterrent and leave NATO.

During a live BBC Question Time special last night, audience member Emma Mitchell asked him why he was now criticizing Mr Corbyn, after campaigning for him for years previously.

Sir Keir defended his decision to back Mr Corbyn, saying he never believed Labor would win and was simply aiming to ensure as many Labor MPs as possible survived.

But he refused five times to say whether he was telling the truth when he said his predecessor would make a “great prime minister”.

He first suggested he “didn’t think we would win” before suggesting Mr Corbyn would have made a “better” prime minister than Mr Johnson.

Pressed by host Fiona Bruce about not answering the question, Sir Keir said: “It's not a question that came up because I didn't think we would win. I was campaigning for the Labor Party and I'm glad I did.

In an interview with the London Evening Standard yesterday, Mr Corbyn denied Sir Keir's attempts to distance himself from the 2019 campaign and his claim that he never thought Labor could win.

The former Labor leader said: “He never alluded to this, nor suggested it to me at any time. We held press conferences and events together during the 2019 elections.

“He was part of the shadow cabinet that approved the manifesto. Possess. I was there, he was there and there were witnesses.

The clashes occurred as follows:

• Rishi Sunak said he was “incredibly angry” at revelations that a flood of bets had been placed on the July election the day before the date was announced, promising to expel all wrongdoers from the party;
• Mr Sunak will today take a cue from Sir John Major in urging voters to carefully weigh the long-term consequences of a Labor government;
• Sir Keir was forced to deny he wanted to “flatten the green belt” after a Labor official claimed the party would do it to build more homes;
• Labor has pledged to curb the “scandalous” right to buy system that deputy leader Angela Rayner used when she bought her former council house.
• Michael Gove has warned that a landslide Labor victory could allow Sir Keir to “rig the system” and create an “eternal government”.
• Labor's education spokeswoman Bridget Phillipson said Labor would build a generation of boys who would grow up to respect women by tackling the “rising tide” of sexism in schools;
• Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has apologized for the “big mistakes” he made as Postmaster General and admitted he was “not proud” of some of his actions in office. within the coalition government.

Sir Keir was asked last night about the number of U-turns he had made in power, for which the Tories branded him 'Mr U-turn'.

He tried to defend his about-face on university tuition fees, saying the “damage” to the economy meant he must now prioritize NHS resources.

The Labor leader also tried to defend his energy decisions and his reversal from his previous promise to nationalize utility companies. He also questioned what steps he would take to help tenants access housing.

He said he wants to take steps to prevent landlords from starting “bidding wars” among potential tenants. “We need to stop landlords from ripping off tenants who engage in this bidding war… 'who will pay more' until they are paying through the roof.”

But he is unable to say exactly how this policy would work.

The Labor leader was then challenged over his planned tax raid on private schools by an audience member who said it could add even more pressure on an already strained state system.

Mr Sunak questioned why NHS waiting lists had increased by 300,000 since he became Prime Minister.

He insisted that progress “does not happen in a straight line” and cited as clear evidence the fall in inflation to the 2 percent target yesterday. “When I became prime minister, inflation was 11 percent,” he told the audience.

“It’s something I said I would do and we’ve done it now.

“These things don’t happen overnight. They do not occur in a straight line. And if you have a plan and stick to it, you can get results.

“What you've seen this year is that the waiting lists are starting to go down. We will stick to it and I will.