I live rent free in Rishi Sunak's head, says Jeremy Corbyn

Image source, HoC

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has joked that he now "lives rent free" in Rishi Sunak's head because the prime minister mentions his name so often.

Mr Sunak has repeatedly attacked current Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over his support for Mr Corbyn at the last general election.

In his latest jibe, at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Sunak claimed Mr Corbyn had wanted to abolish the army.

Mr Corbyn accused the PM of creating a "wholly inaccurate representation".

Since Mr Sunak took over as prime minister last week, the Conservative Party has frequently linked Sir Keir to Mr Corbyn, despite Sir Keir expelling Mr Corbyn from the Parliamentary Labour Party in a long-running row over anti-Semitism.

In an email to Conservative supporters earlier this week, Mr Sunak said: "Jeremy Corbyn might be gone, but Labour is still led by the man who tried to make Corbyn Prime Minister. And nothing has changed."

At PMQs, Mr Sunak hit back at Sir Keir's claims his government had lost control of the asylum system, by saying: "This is the person who, in 2019, told the 大象传媒 - I do think Jeremy Corbyn would make a great prime minister'.

"Let us remember that national security agenda: abolishing our armed forces, scrapping the nuclear deterrent, withdrawing from NATO, voting against every single anti-terror law we tried, and befriending Hamas and Hezbollah. He may want to forget about it, but we will remind him of it every week, because it is the Conservative government who will keep this country safe."

Mr Corbyn - who now sits as an independent MP - raised a point of order in the House of Commons on Thursday, accusing the PM of giving "a wholly inaccurate representation of the 2019 election manifesto of which he must've been fully aware".

"If I am going to live rent free in his head at least he could accurately reflect what I think and what I say rather than inventions made up by him or his office.", he added.

He also accused Mr Sunak of breaking the convention whereby MPs inform other MPs if they are going to mention them in the Commons.

Video caption, Rishi Sunak is questioned about the actions of his home secretary at his second session as prime minister.

Commons leader Penny Mordaunt said the former Labour leader should get used to being mentioned by the PM on a weekly basis.

She added that if he wanted to "correct the record" he could "publish the manifesto that he stood on which would have weakened this country and dismantled Nato".

Mr Corbyn hit back saying Labour's 2019 manifesto was "freely available" and added: "If it had resulted in a Labour government we would not have such poverty, such food banks, such misery in this country today."

Prior to becoming Labour leader Mr Corbyn had called for Nato to be disbanded however the party's 2019 manifesto promised to "maintain our commitment" to the organisation.

It also supported the renewal of Britain's nuclear weapons system - despite Mr Corbyn's long-standing opposition to nuclear weapons - and pledged to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence to "guarantee that our armed forces are versatile".

Sir Keir was shadow Brexit secretary under Mr Corbyn, who led the Labour Party to two general election defeats, in 2017 and 2019.

Mr Corbyn was suspended from the party in October 2020 over his reaction to a highly critical report about anti-Semitism in the party under his leadership.