Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he only had about 15 “close political friends” in the House of Commons during his first PMQs. The Islington North MP also accused his Labour colleagues of having “a great hostility” towards him when he was the leader. Speaking to Tribune Magazine’s A World to Win podcast hosted by political commentator Grace Blakeley, Mr Corbyn discussed his first appearance in the House of Commons as Opposition leader in 2015.
He said: “I looked around and there weren’t too many people that I’d call close political friends.
“In fact, there were about 15 of them out of the 650 MPs there. It was difficult, there’s no denying that.
“There are people in the Labour Party that don’t want change, that didn’t want that change.
“I was faced with a great deal of hostility from the very beginning.”
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His comments come as a new survey shows Boris Johnson extending his leader over Sir Keir Starmer.
The Savanta ComRes survey suggested the Prime Minister has opened up a 13-point lead over Sir Keir when it comes to the person seen as making the ‘best Prime Minister’.
Mr Johnson is currently on 43 points while Sir Keir on 30 points meaning the Prime Minister has actually added to his lead by four points.
Savanta ComRes Associate Director Chris Hopkins told Express.co.uk: “Keir has made a good start but the challenge that he has is that the Conservative Party has quite a lot of electoral rope from the electorate.
“Everybody knows Boris but not everybody knows Keir so the key for him is getting his name out there.
“But when he does get his name out there, when he goes get his face out there, he really does have to have a positive impression.”
The poll added that the Tory party is still popular despite criticism over their handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Conservatives are on 42 percent (one point down on last month) while Labour are on 37 percent (unchanged).
