It would be fair to say Jeremy Corbyn and Donald Trump are at ideological loggerheads. While the Labour leader has today announced the party will not be cutting immigration and he “isn’t concerned about numbers”, the Republican presidential candidate has previously said he plans to build a “great, great” wall along the border with Mexico.
Despite this, Ed Balls, the former shadow chancellor and now Strictly Come Dancing contestant, has likened the labour leader to Mr Trump because they have both achieved success via the “protest” vote.
However, Mr Corbyn has argued this is a “very strange comparison” to make, saying he has little in common with the mogul-turned politico.
“I don’t think Donald Trump and I have very much in common on anything,” Mr Corbyn told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme on Wednesday.
However, when probed about whether he agreed there was a comparison to be made in the sense that both had broken expectations, he said: “Leicester City did last year. Lots of people defy the odds. It was an interesting experience last year to see the thirst of people, it wasn't that they aren't political, it was that politics wasn't interested in them.”
The Labour politician, who was recently re-elected with an increased majority, condemned Mr Trump’s idea to build a wall on the Mexican border.
“The idea that you would build a wall between your country and your nearest neighbour, Mexico, and then somehow or other try to say that they have to pay for it,” he said. ”What kind of behaviour and what kind of attitude is that? In addition to the many other strange, very old-fashioned social attitudes he seems to be so keen on.”
“He plays to an audience which feels very angry at the way the political establishment has treated it and he doesn’t actually offer any solutions other than a blame culture,” he added.
