Leading the Labour party is not an easy job, the party’s former leader Jeremy Corbyn told LBC host Iain Dale when discussing Sir Keir Starmer's first year as Leader of the Opposition.
"You have to be inclusive of all people in the party and make sure their voices are heard and make sure the democracy of the party is going to be intact - because that's the absolute lifeblood of it," Corbyn said.
He then criticised incumbent Labour leader Keir Starmer, saying he would like the party to “have been much more assertive on the coronavirus crisis”.
“I think we haven't challenged them enough on the efficiency of the private sector Track and Trace, we haven't challenged them enough on the lack of transparency in the deals that have been done,” the Islington North MP said.
As a result, he said, the UK now has a “serious mental health crisis”, poverty and increasing rates of unemployment in the poorest parts of the country.
"It's very beguiling when you're the leader of the opposition to be invited into the big room...and it's got lots of microphones and lights and spotlights, and it's got screens and projectors and god knows what...they try to make you feel absolutely part of it - you're not," Corbyn said.
UK Labour leader Keir Starmer has come under fire in recent months, accused of excessive caution, not levelling enough blows on Prime Minister Boris Johnson for ‘mismanaging’ the COVID-19 crisis, and generating an internal split by snubbing Corbyn’s staunch supporters.
In February a YouGov poll showed that Starmer's favourability ratings had fallen to their lowest point from a record high last year.
