Steve Coogan lays into PM at buoyant Corbyn rally
The comedian also took a swipe at Boris Johnson as the Labour leader told the crowd: "We are going to change things."
Wednesday 7 June 2017 08:13, UK
Labour is "going all-out" to win the election and prove to doubters that the party is "real, serious and here", Jeremy Corbyn has told a rally.
The Labour leader was addressing a crowd of around 6,000 people in Birmingham, alongside the likes of comedian Steve Coogan and the band Clean Bandit in a music festival-style event.
Mr Corbyn was also joined by Saffiyah Khan - whose photograph went viral when she confronted an English Defence League protester in the city - at the rally which was beamed to celebrity-endorsed Labour rallies in Barry, Brighton, Glasgow, London and Warrington.
He accused Theresa May of underestimating Labour when she called the snap election, and claimed the Prime Minister now rarely repeats the "strong and stable" slogan used consistently at the start of the campaign.
Mr Corbyn said the turning point was the launch of the Labour manifesto, which included popular policies such as renationalising key industries, borrowing to invest in infrastructure and boosting spending on health and education, while increasing taxes on corporations and high earners.
After the crowd started chanting "for the many, not the few", Labour's campaign slogan, he said: "Let's work together across the whole country to show them our programme is real, serious and here. And we are real, serious and here.
"And do you know what? We are going to change things."
With a little more than a day until the polls open, Mr Corbyn promised to leave "no place untouched, no stone unturned".
"We are going all-out to win this election," he said.
Alan Partridge actor Coogan could not resist having a dig at the PM and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson when he addressed the crowd.
"Theresa May it seems now after all is not Margaret Thatcher mark II, she's got the charisma of a pancake," he said.
"So they've had to wheel out Boris Johnson, the Tories' upper class twit.
"Boris Johnson, the Tories' clown, except he's not that funny.
"He's about as funny as tightness in the chest followed by shooting pains down the left thigh."
Indie veterans The Farm closed the rally by playing Labour's campaign anthem All Together Now.
Elsewhere, actress Maxine Peake joined shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey at the event in Warrington, with music from Reverend and the Makers.
In London, shadow chancellor John McDonnell shared a stage with comedian Ben Elton and rockers Wolf Alice, who performed a DJ set.