Former Labour MP Ian Austin says Jeremy Corbyn is unfit to be Prime Minister

7 November 2019, 10:55

A former Labour MP has urged voters to back Boris Johnson in next month's election, saying Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister is "too big a risk".

Ian Austin quit Labour after 34 years in February and accused Mr Corbyn of failing to tackle anti-Semitism in the party.

Speaking to LBC's Political Editor Theo Usherwood, he said: "I'm saying the country should vote for Boris Johnson. And I'm saying that after 34 years in the Labour Party.

"I could never have imagined before this year that I would be saying that people should vote Conservative, but in the end I think the country faces a big choice."

Mr Austin insisted that the Labour leader is simply not fit to be Prime Minister, adding: "There's only two people that can be Prime Minister on 13th December - Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn.

"And I think Jeremy Corbyn is completely unfit to lead our country.

"He always backs our country's enemies, whether that was the IRA in the Troubles or describing terrorist organisations such as Hamas or Hezbollah as friends, or parroting the Putin line when the Kremlin sent people to murder people on the streets of Britain.

"But the most shameful of all: he's allowed a political party with a proud history of standing up for equality and fighting against racism to be poisoned by racism against Jewish people and it's a complete scandal.

"It's an absolute disgrace. And it makes him completely unfit to lead our country."

Labour says the idea its voters would support Boris Johnson is "absolutely absurd"

Rebecca Long-Bailey responded: "Voting for Boris Johnson, if you're a Labour voter and you want to protect your community, that's absolutely absurd and it makes no sense at all."