Keir Starmer has said he is ”very relaxed” about people getting rich, as long as they pay their taxes.
As he seeks to attract more voters to Labour, the party leader said that his background meant he understood “what aspiration is”.
His comments came as he was questioned over an infamous New Labour quote about being “intensely relaxed” about the filthy rich.
In a series of interviews he also repeatedly declined to rule out entering into a coalition with the Liberal Democrats if Labour fails to win a majority at the next general election.
And he indicated he would not rip up controversial new police powers that have been criticised after the arrests of protesters at the King’s coronation.
In February Rishi Sunak appeared lost for words when asked if he was “stinking rich” in a television interview.
Eventually he described his situation as “financially fortunate”.
The Labour leader was asked by the BBC if he was “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich?”
He replied: “I’m very relaxed about people being rich and getting rich. I know what aspiration is, I mean, I came from a working class background and I was able to not only head up the Crown Prosecution Service, but now lead the Labour Party.
“So my story is one of aspiration and opportunity. I understand that in other people. But I want obviously everybody to pay their taxes and I want fairness and I want equality and I want every child to have that opportunity.”
He also repeatedly refused to rule out a deal with the Lib Dems, despite insisting he would not team up with the SNP.
Sir Keir has said his party is on course to win the next general election outright, after gaining hundreds of councillors in last week's local elections.
But pollsters have suggested he could fall short of that aim and that Britain could again see a hung parliament.
Sir Keir insisted he was "going for an outright majority".
But asked about a deal with Sir Ed Davey’s party, told Sky News: "I'm not answering hypotheticals but we're aiming for a Labour majority and that's what we're confident about."
However, he also said he was "absolutely clear there are no terms in which we will do a deal with the SNP".
Sir Keir insisted the difference was that the SNP wanted to break up the UK.
Meanwhile, former Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair warned Sir Keir against complacency.
He told Bloomberg TV Sir Keir has "done a pretty good job pulling the Labour party back from where it was".
"But of course you can't be complacent about these things at all," he added.
On the arrests, Sir Keir said Scotland Yard had got some of its "judgments wrong".
But he said it was "early days" for the Public Order Act, under which the group was detained for 16 hours before being released and told no charges would be brought
Rather than committing to repeal the legislation, he suggested fresh guidance could make improvements amid concerns it was being used to clamp down on dissent.
