Jeremy Corbyn calls on Keir Starmer to reveal who is funding his Labour leadership campaign
3 min read
Jeremy Corbyn has called on Keir Starmer to reveal who is financing his Labour leadership campaign.
In a dramatic intervention, Mr Corbyn said it was "very important" for party members to know exactly where candidates' funding was coming from before they decide who to vote for.
Sir Keir has been under pressure since Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy both published all the donations they have received above £1,500.
Mr Corbyn - who has not said who he is backing in the leadership contest - entered the row during an interview with his local paper, the Islington Gazette.
Asked if Sir Keir should publish a full list of his donors, he said: "Yes. I think there always has to be openness in all respects, and when you receive financial support for a political campaign it's very important to know where it comes from, all of it should be published.
"I published everything in my leadership campaigns. The number of high-level, big ticket donors we had was very small, I leave that to others."
Elsewhere in the interview, Mr Corbyn also left the door open to accepting a Shadow Cabinet role under the next leader.
Ms Long-Bailey, as well as deputy leadership candidate Richard Burgon, have both said they would like to see him remain on the Labour front bench even after he quits as leader.
Asked what job he would take, Mr Corbyn said: "I think foreign policy actually because I have spent my life on human rights justice and environmental justice issues.
"But that's not up to me, that's up to the next leader. I will be working on human rights, environmental and social justice whatever position I hold or don't hold."
A senior Labour source told PoliticsHome: "When Tony Blair made interventions in the 2015 leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn and his outriders were very clear that it wasn’t appropriate.
"He would do well to remember that he has just led Labour to our worst result in nearly a century after a decade of Tory austerity."
Asked on ITV's Peston show on Wednesday who was funding his campaign, Sir Keir said: "There are very strict rules. The Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary rules require you to register all your funding and then to publish it and that's what we've been doing.
"My first tranche went up on the Parliamentary website a few weeks ago. The next tranche, we've given it to the Parliamentary authorities .. they're checking it's all in order and it's going up as soon as they give it the green light."
Mr Corbyn's successor will be annpounced at a special conference on 4 April.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
