Jeremy Corbyn sticks carefully to script as election looms
With the prospect of an election now a tangible reality, he was clearly on his best behaviour, writes Sky's Sophy Ridge.
Monday 14 October 2019 09:28, UK
When Jeremy Corbyn was first elected Labour leader - way back in the distant days of 2015 - we were promised a very different kind of politician.
Watch Kay Burley@Breakfast, which launches today, weekdays from 7-9amThis week I travelled to Hastings, to interview Mr Corbyn for Sophy Ridge on Sunday, and I was struck by the transformation over the last four years.
With the prospect of a general election now a tangible reality, the Labour leader was clearly on his best behaviour - keen to stick carefully to the script. Cautious and careful - rather than the left wing firebrand.
Would he commit to the Labour conference motion to reduce net emissions to zero by 2030?
"I want to achieve that if we can."
How about abolishing private schools, as delegates voted at Labour conference?
He said: "What we're going to the election for is the establishment of a national education service which will properly fund all state schools."
"That's not quite what I asked though, is it?"
"No, I know it isn't..."
These are the careful answers of a man with an eye keenly on the prospect of an election.
:: Listen to Sophy Ridge on Sunday on , , ,
It looks like voters could be going to the ballot boxes sooner rather than later, so I was keen to press the Labour leader on whether he could open the door to a second referendum on Scottish independence if that was the price of SNP support.
Smaller parties like the SNP could hold the balance of power if the next election results in a hung parliament where nobody has an outright majority.
Ian Blackford, the SNP's Westminster leader, told me that he thinks Jeremy Corbyn "has to be" open to a second independence referendum and "I'd simply say to Jeremy, and indeed to anybody else who might be in 10 Downing Street, they have to respect democracy and they have to respect the right of the people that live in Scotland to determine their own future".
When I asked Mr Corbyn if he would consider agreeing to a second independence referendum if it was the only way to get into Number 10, he did not explicitly rule it out, but said: "It is not our priority…I don't think independence is a good idea…and we wouldn't even countenance it in the early years of a Labour government."
Once again, this strikes me as a politician with an eye firmly on an election and the chance to get into Number 10 - and reluctant to say or do anything that would harm his chances.
Watch Kay Burley@Breakfast, which launches today, weekdays from 7-9am.