Shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth apologises to party after leaked tape of him saying Labour will lose election

Tim Baker10 December 2019
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Labour frontbencher Jon Ashworth has apologised to the party after a recording of him saying Jeremy Corbyn is hurting his party’s election hopes was leaked.

In a recording passed to political blog Guido Fawkes, Mr Ashworth can be heard talking to a distorted voice about the upcoming election.

The Shadow Health Secretary also says in the leaked tape that the Civil Service “will pretty quickly move to safeguard security” should Jeremy Corbyn move in to Downing Street.

The pair go on to talk about how Labour under Jeremy Corbyn is weak and that the party’s stance on Brexit has cost them votes.

Mr Ashworth has dismissed the leaked conversation as "banter" and says he still thinks Mr Corbyn can win on Thursday.

Jeremy Corbyn, left, and Jon Ashworth, right, ahead of the manifesto launch earlier this year
Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

Speaking about Labour campaigners, Mr Ashworth says: "Outside of cities seats, if you're in small town midlands and north, it's abysmal out there.

"They don't like Johnson but they can't stand Corbyn and they think Labour's blocked Brexit."

General Election 2019 - In pictures

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Appearing on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme minutes after the audio was published, Mr Ashworth insisted he was joking with a Conservative friend and did not mean what he said.

Asked about comments in which he said Labour “f***ed it up” in keeping Mr Corbyn as its leader, he said: “We’re having banter with each other – we’re joking around.

“No I don’t mean it because I’m joking around with my mate because he’s a Tory… If you leak it to Guido Fawkes of course it makes me look like a right plonker but it's not what I mean when I’m winding up a friend – I’m trying to sort of pull his leg a bit.”

In the tape, Mr Ashworth also says that the Labour Party got it wrong trying to remove Jeremy Corbyn as leader in 2016 - saying “we went too early”.

Later on in the recording, the distorted voice says “we have talked about this before” when saying that a strong opposition would have helped push the government.

Mr Ashworth agrees that they “are all over the f***ing place” but says of removing the Labour party leader: “I think things can change quickly.”

He later told BBC Two's Politics Live programme: “Obviously with the benefit of hindsight I’ve been too clever by half and I look like an idiot as a result of doing it.

“But I thought I was having a private conversation with someone who I’ve always had conversations with over the years.

“It’s obviously stupid. I apologise to Labour Party members but the reason it has come out today is because the Tories don’t want to be talking about the fact that we’ve had a toddler lying on the floor in a hospital.”

Mr Ashworth claimed the recording was leaked by Tory activist Greig Baker, former chairman of Canterbury Conservative Association.

“It’s a shame because I thought he was a friend – he’s clearly not a friend.”

Responding to Mr Ashworth’s comments, Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly said: “This is an honest and truly devastating assessment of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership by one of his most trusted election lieutenants.

“He admits that Labour has blocked Brexit and that is why voters ‘can’t stand Corbyn’. If even Corbyn’s closest political allies think he is unfit to be Prime Minister, why on earth should voters be expected to put their trust in him and them?

“Corbyn’s Labour have broken their promises to the British people on Brexit and they will not be able to deliver their fantasy manifesto. As Ashworth himself says, only a vote for Boris Johnson and the Conservatives will mean we can get Brexit done.”

Mr Ashworth's portfolio as Shadow Health Minister means he has been at the centre of Labour's message around the NHS.

He appeared on radio and TV this morning to condemn the Conservatives' record on the health service, and the picture of a child pictured sleeping on the floor in a hospital due to a lack of beds.

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