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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Maria Eagle says Corbyn's comment on not pressing nuclear button unhelpful – Politics live

John Harris’s Anywhere but Westminster video from the Labour conference

Summary

  • Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, has said Labour will never win another election unless it champions those running micro-businesses. In a substantial speech - one of the best of the conference, and much more weighty than the usual end-of-confence knockabout - he said Labour would never win an election unless it stood up for people running small businesses.

5.2 million private sector businesses in the UK, employing more than 25 million people.

96 per cent of these are micro business, with 0-9 employees. That’s a third of all private sector employees in the UK. More than 8 million people in 5 million businesses. And the proportion’s growing all the time, faster than any other segment of the economy.

These people are not posh. They’re not privileged. They’re not greedy or selfish or stupid. They work hard, they want to get on, but they also care about their neighbours and the communities we share.

They’re our people, and we’re their party - or we are nothing.

If we don’t speak for the 0-9ers, we will never win another election.

And they need a political voice. The Tories don’t care about them. As John McDonnell said on Monday, the Tories are the party of the 1 per cent, the super-privileged who own the land and the money. They live in a different country. They don’t use our schools or hospitals, which feeds their contempt for our public services.

He also called for more working class Labour candidates, saying there were too many former special advisers at the top of the parliamentary party.

And an even greater waste of our natural talent is the lack of working class Labour MPs. We need more. Simple as that. No offence to any individual, but there are too many special advisers at the top of the parliamentary Labour party.

Don’t get me wrong, we need special advisers, but we can’t afford to be a party which only promotes people like that. We can’t afford a shadow cabinet which is monochrome and monocultural. Our movement and our country are richer and better than that.

And he called for councillors to be given a bigger role in policy making.

There should be no important decision made at the national level on which Labour councillors are not consulted. It’s councillors who actually run services and represent us every day on the front line. They’re among our most undervalued resources. I’m going to put that right.

  • Andy Burnham, the new shadow home secretary, has called for the second stage of the Leveson inquiry, the one supposed to investigate in detail phone hacking at News International, to go ahead. When the original inquiry was set up, this part of it was postponed because of ongoing criminal trials. Burnham also called for inquiries into police behaviour at Orgreave and in the Shrewsbury building workers case.

We don’t know the full extent of the collusion between police and press and that’s why the second inquiry recommended by Lord Leveson must go ahead.

We won’t know the full story of Hillsborough until we know what the same police force did to the miners in the aftermath of Orgreave.

And to understand how an anti-trade-union culture developed in parts of the Police, we need the full story about the false convictions and imprisonment of building workers in Shrewsbury.

I will make it my personal priority in this job to put the pieces of this jigsaw together - alongside other historical injustices we have seen: the abuse of stop and search powers against black and asian young people; and particularly child sexual exploitation.

  • Lucy Powell, the new shadow education secretary, has said that Labour is opposed to the creation of new free schools and that it wants academies subject to local accountability.

I’m clear - we will ensure there is strong local oversight and accountability of all schools.

Local authorities will be able to ensure sufficient places and fair admissions, and have the ability to intervene in any school that is failing. I want to encourage collaboration in communities of schools and for all schools to work with their local communities to drive up standards.

Let me also be clear. There will be no more Free Schools and academy chains will made accountable.

  • Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary, said the NHS was “in deep trouble” and “on its knees” because of Conservative policies.

The NHS today is in deep trouble.

Five years of the Tories has left the NHS on its knees.

Almost 90,000 patients have waited longer than two months to start cancer treatment.

Over 300,000 patients have had their operation cancelled at the last minute.

4.8 million patients have waited longer than four hours in A&E.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

It’s official; Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have been airbrushed out of Labour’s history. In his speech Tom Watson, the deputy leader, paid tribute to John Smith and Ed Miliband, but did not mention the two party leaders in between.

We’ve just taken a huge step down that road. We’ve got a leader, and, dare I say it, a deputy leader, who’ve just been resoundingly elected in a great outpouring of democracy.

On which note, please can we pay tribute to John Smith? He started the process 22 years ago that led to the surging wave of democratic engagement we’ve seen this summer. He was a man of great vision and we still feel his loss.

And let’s also recognise what Ed Miliband did. He drove through the rule changes which enfranchised hundreds of thousands of new people who weren’t even members of our party. They’ve utterly changed the face of Labour.

As is traditional, the Labour conference is concluding with the Red Flag and Jerusalem. Jeremy Corbyn didn’t have any reservations about singing the Red Flag.

Angela Eagle questions Corbyn's stance on nuclear weapons

Angela Eagle, the shadow business secretary, has joined her sister Maria in questioning Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on nuclear weapons.

Tom Watson opened his speech with rather a good joke. It was predictable, and you could see where it was heading, but Watson delivered it well and it was funny.

Did you see the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth? The slogan was hashtag Lib Dem Fightback. But the only coverage they could get was talking about Jeremy and Labour.

I did go too far though when I compared the Lib Dems to a Bananarama tribute band. Some people were angry, and I accept that I crossed the line. What I said was demeaning, unjustified and wrong. Siobhan, Sara, Keren – I should never have compared your tribute acts to that useless bunch of lying sellouts, the Lib Dems and I’m sorry.

Updated

Tom Watson, the Labour deputy leader, is winding up the conference now with his closing speech.

I will post a summary soon, including highlights from the big speeches I haven’t covered yet because I’ve been focusing on the nuclear row.

The Syria motion has been approved.

In an interview with 5 News Jeremy Corbyn said he was very sceptical about the case for military intervention in Syria.

I do not see any circumstances at the moment where bombing is actually going to make any great difference ... I think the dangers are huge, the dangers of mission creep are enormous ... The dangers of dragging British forces in on the ground are also huge. I think we need to think very, very carefully about this so I am not persuaded on it.

Here is Nicholas Watt’s story about the Trident row. And here’s how it starts.

The final day of the Labour conference has been hit by a row over nuclear weapons, after the shadow defence secretary criticised Jeremy Corbyn for saying he would instruct defence chiefs never to use the Trident system.

In a sign of deep divisions over Trident in the shadow cabinet, Maria Eagle described the Labour leader’s comments as unhelpful – prompting a rebuke from Diane Abbott, the shadow development secretary. Sir Paul Kenny, the general secretary of the GMB union, said he also disagreed with Corbyn.

The row erupted on Wednesday morning, when the Labour leader told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that he would effectively disarm on the day he became prime minister by making it clear to generals that he would never authorise the use of Trident. Asked if he would use nuclear weapons, he said no.

Corbyn rejects idea he would have to resign if Labour backed Trident

Jeremy Corbyn has rejected the suggestion that he would have to resign if Labour backed Trident, because as prime minister he would not be willing to contemplate using nuclear weapons, rendering the nuclear deterrent redundant.

John Pienaar asked him about this in an interview just broadcast on Radio 5 Live. Here is the key exchange.

JP: You’ve said that policy making is a matter for the party as a whole. And you as leader will abide by that, as you would expect the shadow cabinet to abide by that, and every other member of the party. If the decision is to retain the deterrent you would have to resign on principle, wouldn’t you?

JC: I’m not offering anything like that. You’re asking a hypothetical question. We’re having a discussion and debate in this party and we will find a way forward from that.

And this is what happened when Pienaar put it to him that, by becoming prime minister, he would have disarmed the UK unilaterally.

JP: If you are leader of the party, and Labour is elected, and you are prime minister, you would not press the button. We have therefore, on your election disarmed.

JC: Would anybody press the nuclear button?

Corbyn insisted that nuclear weapons were not helpful.

Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction that take out millions of civilians. They didn’t do the USA much good on 9/11. The problems in this world are not huge wars in that way. The problems are much more fairly random acts of terrorism.

And, when repeatedly asked if he would resign if Labour backed Trident, he objected to the question.

I don’t know why you’re even raising this subject. I’ve just been elected 16 days ago and I’m doing my best and I’m enjoying leading this party and we’ve recruited 160,000 new members. They are excited by this party.

Kenny says, if Labour backs Trident, Corbyn will have to accept the policy or resign

Jeremy Corbyn says, if Labour decides to back nuclear weapons, he would have to “live with it, somehow”.

But Paul Kenny, the GMB general secretary, told the World at One that Corbyn would have to accept the party policy or resign.

Here is the key exchange. He was being interviewed by Martha Kearney.

MK: How can [Corbyn] be prime minister if he has a party which is forcing him to use nuclear weapons which he would never use?

PK: Then he’s got a choice to make in terms of whether he followed the defence policy of the country, or felt that he should resign. His integrity would drive his decision one way or another.

Burnham says he would find it 'difficult' to stay in shadow cabinet if Labour opposed Trident

Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary and former leadership candidate, has just told the World at One that he would find it “difficult” to stay in the shadow cabinet if the party decides to back scrapping Trident.

Corbyn says, if Labour backs nuclear weapons, he will 'live with it, somehow'

Jeremy Corbyn has told ITV in an interview that, if the Labour party does decide to back nuclear weapons after its policy review, he would “live with it, somehow”.

But, as the BBC’s John Pienaar points out, that begs the question how he could serve as Labour prime minister if he were not prepared to implement party policy.

Updated

My colleagues Ewen MacAskill and Richard Norton-Taylor wrote a helpful analysis of the Trident situation at the weekend. Their assessment is that the Commons will vote to renew Trident next year, but that the government’s majority will be much smaller than it would have been without Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader.

Diane Abbott, the shadow international development secretary, has now implicitly criticised Maria Eagle for criticising Jeremy Corbyn.

Paul Kenny, the GMB leader, has told the World at One that he disagrees with Jeremy Corbyn on the nuclear deterrent. I will post more quotes from his interview when I get them.

More on nuclear weapons.

10 things we've learnt from the Labour conference

The Labour conference ends in about an hour. So what have we learnt? Here goes.

1 - Jeremy Corbyn is more secure as Labour leader than he looked in his difficult first few days in the job and his job is safe - at least for the medium term. Anyone who assumed that Corbyn would be incapable of functioning properly as leader will have been disabused this week, because Corbyn has presided over a conference that has been, superficially at least, successful. The event has also demonstrated how remarkably popular he is with members.

2 - Corbyn’s “new politics” has considerable attractions. Unassuming and straightforward, Corbyn himself has made a good impression in broadcast interviews, and speeches focusing on policy not partisan point-scoring, of which John McDonnell’s was the best example, have also made a welcome change. It would not be surprising if the Conservatives adopt some of this tonal shift at their conference next week.

3 - But the “new politics” is not quite as new as it looks. Corbyn still employs spin doctors who brief the media. For all the talk about open discussion, Trident never got debated on the conference platform. Corbyn’s call for politics without insults didn’t stop a string of speakers making pig jokes about David Cameron. And on Sunday, as Chris Bryant was telling the conference Labour spent too much time worrying about “the line”, Labour HQ was sending a briefing note to shadow ministers explaining the line to take.

4 - And Corbyn has said almost nothing about how his proposed, bottom-up policy making process will work. This notion is at the heart of his politics. People who join Labour would have “the final say” in deciding policy, he told the conference in his speech, and “no one - not me as leader, nor the shadow cabinet, not the parliamentary Labour party - is going to impose policy or have a veto”. This is a bold proposition. But, beyond a brief announcement from Angela Eagle about a review of the way the national policy forum will operate, nothing has been said to explain what this might mean in practice.

5 - Despite having a large mandate, Corbyn does not look like a leader confident of being able to implement his own proposals. This became apparent in his first week as leader, but, as Patrick Wintour explains, there has been more evidence on display at the conference of Corbyn’s frontbench colleagues trying to constrain his options in key policy areas. Maria Eagle’s comment this morning criticising Corbyn’s nuclear button interview is a particularly good example.

6 - Free votes look increasingly likely. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, wants one on military intervention in Syria, and Tom Watson, the deputy leader, has hinted Labour MPs will get one on Trident. Corbyn has tried to make a virtue of the fact that he is willing to allow MPs to disagree. Arguably this is old politics versus new politics. But Corbyn has not convincingly countered the argument that leadership is about leading, that not being able to get his party to back him is a sign of weakness, and that, in reality, this more a matter of politics versus unpolitics (or drift).

7 - The Pro-Europeans have won an important battle. Corbyn shifted his stance on the EU referendum before the conference when he committed the party to campaigning for an in vote, but the Eurosceptic GMB came to the conference ready to mount a fightback, demanding a special conference before the party finalised its position. In the event, though, this proposal went nowhere, and the conference lined up firmly with the in camp.

8 - Corbyn’s opponents on the right have effectively put him on probation. Surprisingly, perhaps, there was little outright criticism of Corbyn, even from rightwingers who think he will be a disaster for Labour, but instead Corbynsceptics were quite open about the need for the party to ditch him at some point before 2020 if he proves unpopular with voters. But ...

9 - There is no alternative leader. None of Corbyn’s three leadership rivals, Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, emerged from the contest with their reputation enhanced, and this was not a conference with a leader-in-waiting lurking in the wings. Sir Keir Starmer, Dan Jarvis, Lisa Nandy and even Clive Lewis are among those being touted for this role, but none of them are even near ready yet.

10 - The battle for control of Labour’s internal machine will become increasingly important. Although Corbyn insists that he does not want to see rightwing Labour MPs deselected, some MPs have real fears about their future (interventions like Michael Meacher’s did not help) and matters like who controls the national executive committee will become crucial. As Stephen Bush reported for the Staggers, two NEC changes this week (an election and an appointment) have shifted the balance of power on it in favour of the Corbynites. It is years since journalists wrote regularly about NEC elections, but now is time to take an interest again.

Updated

Maria Eagle criticises Corbyn for saying he would not press the nuclear button

Maria Eagle, the shadow defence secretary, has criticised Jeremy Corbyn for saying he would not press the nuclear button.

Falconer says the Tories still 'the nasty party'

Lord Falconer, the justice secretary, must be the most Blairite member of the shadow cabinet. But in his speech to the conference he revealed his inner Corbyn.

Conference, Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised for appointing me to the shadow cabinet.

People say that we’re too alike.

We’re both thin men, in our 60s, from Islington.

Actually - and I know many of you will be surprised by this - there are a few matter on which we disagree.

But we share so much more.

We share the view that politics should change.

Conference, this summer, our party has had a transfusion of ideas, energy and drive.

A transfusion that makes us stronger.

We must harness that power to fight for the things Labour stands for.

He also launched a strong attack on the government’s legal aid cuts.

In the year we left office, over 470,000 cases received advice or assistance for social welfare issues.

The year after the Tory legal aid Act came into force, that number fell to less than 53,000.

Hundreds of thousands of people left without help.

Victims of domestic abuse trapped with their abuser because the alternative is to face them in court.

Small businesses facing bankruptcy because court fees mean they can’t chase unpaid debts.

Children separated from their parents denied help and left vulnerable to exploitation and homelessness.

The refugee crisis has led to many children being separated from their parents ending up in the UK alone.

Tory reforms make it much harder for these children to get legal aid.

Who says the Tory party isn’t still the nasty party?

Lord Falconer
Lord Falconer Photograph: Ray Tang/REX Shutterstock/Ray Tang/REX Shutterstock

Here’s Luke Akehurst, a Labour activist and a former member of the NEC, on the Syria motion.

Vincent Wooding, a delegate from Liverpool, says he would back a European-wide intervention to enforce a no-fly zone. That would increase the chance of getting a diplomatic solution, he says.

And that’s it. The Syria debate is over. The vote will take place just before the conference ends.

Fran Griffiths, from Swansea West constituency Labour party, says her CLP went to London to protest against the Iraq war. She is backing the motion.

Sajid Shaikh, a CWU delegate, is seconding the motion. He says any action should have to have international and UN support. There is a risk of spiralling violence otherwise, he says.

Syria debate

The Labour conference is now debating the emergency motion on Syria.

It is debating a motion tabled by Unite that would impose strict conditions that would have to be met before Labour MPs could vote to support air strikes against Islamic State in Syria.

The Unite speaker opening the debate says it is time to stand up for peace, and resist David Cameron’s wars.

Updated

Khan says he will make London mayoral election 'a referendum on housing crisis'

In his speech to the conference Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate for London mayor, said that he wanted to make next month’s mayoral election a referendum on housing.

I’m going to make the election in May a referendum on London’s housing crisis.

You know, when I was growing up every child could aspire to one day own a home of their own.

My parents were able to get a council house that meant they could save a deposit to get a home of their own.

I slept in a bunk bed at my parents’ house until I was 24 so that I could save up to buy my first home with my wife.

We had to make big sacrifices, but it was possible.

Not anymore.

Home ownership is falling every year - with an entire generation in London standing no chance of owning their own home.

He criticised the government’s housing bill.

Next month the Tories will introduce a Housing Bill in Parliament that will make it even more difficult for Londoners to rent or buy a home.

It should be called the “No Home of Your Own” Bill.

It will force Councils to sell off their family homes - with no guarantee that they won’t be sold to foreign investors.

And it will sell off housing association homes in London - the last remaining genuinely affordable homes.

This will be a disaster for London.

And he set out his own plans.

I’ll set up a new team of housing experts in City Hall called ‘Homes for Londoners’.

They will plan, fund and deliver the new homes Londoners need.

With me as Mayor, we’ll stand up to big property developers and insist that half of all new homes are genuinely affordable.

We’ll give Londoners first dibs on the new homes that are built.

We’ll bring in a London living rent.

And we’ll build homes for first time buyers.

This is what Jeremy Corbyn told the Press Association in an interview when asked if he was taking Labour too far to the left to win an election.

Thirty-six percent of the electorate didn’t vote in the last election, 53% of young people didn’t vote in the last election. Some people were tempted away from us because we were not clear enough on an economic strategy that opposed austerity.

Instead of cutting, we want to see an expanding economy, an investment-based economy - John McDonnell set that out in his speech on Monday.

Jeremy Corbyn has distanced himself from suggestions by Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, that she should be able to whip Scottish Labour MPs at Westminster.

In a clear sign of a split with Dugdale about the extent of her remit only 24 hours before he makes his first visit to Scotland as UK party leader, Corbyn refused to endorse her proposal and instead put heavy emphasis on Scottish Labour’s role at Holyrood.

Asked on BBC Radio Scotland whether he would be happy to relinquish control over its Scottish MPs, he answered:

I think what we will have to do is have a discussion at the Scottish party conference [in October] on that. But the Labour party in Scotland is a very strong organisation. It obviously lays out the manifesto for Holyrood elections; it obviously lays out what they expect of Scottish members in the Holyrood parliament.

The question over whether Dugdale’s authority includes MPs and possibly Scottish peers at Westminster exposes internal tensions over how far the Scottish party’s autonomy on policy-making from party headquarters in London and from Westminster will extend.

Dugdale insists her authority needs to be comprehensive and consistent if Labour is to effectively combat the Scottish National party. On Sunday, Labour’s sole surviving Scottish MP Ian Murray, a close ally and friend of Dugdale’s, was unable to confirm he supported her proposal after he was put on the spot about it on BBC Sunday Politics.

Corbyn was asked on BBC Radio Scotland whether he accepted claims by former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont that the Scottish party had previously been treated as merely a “branch office” of the UK party, and whether Dugdale had to defer to him in any policy areas.

Sidestepping the “branch office” point, Corbyn said: “Kezia and I are working fine together. I have had discussions with her here in Brighton and I’m going to be in Scotland tomorrow morning in Holyrood and other places, meeting a lot of colleagues in the Labour party and other people in Scotland.”

Kezia Dugdale
Kezia Dugdale Photograph: Ray Tang/REX Shutterstock/Ray Tang/REX Shutterstock

Corbyn says Britain should apologise for the slave trade

Jeremy Corbyn said today that, as prime minister, he would be willing to apologise for the slave trade.

I think we should apologise for the slave trade and understand that the history of Jamaica is, yes, one of amazing joy and achievement since independence in 1962, but it’s also a history of the most gross exploitation of people.

The slave trade and the system of slavery was the most brutal part of our history and the history of Jamaica. I spent my youth in Jamaica, I lived in Jamaica for two years, and I love the country very much indeed.

When Tony Blair was prime minister, he expressed “deep sorrow” over the slave trade, but stopped short of a full apology.

Asked whether Britain should pay reparations to the countries affected by slavery - an issue raised with David Cameron today on his visit to Jamaica - Corbyn said he would be interested in hearing more about what was proposed.

We should be doing all we can to try and right the wrongs of the past - improve trade facilities and arrangements, improve support for Jamaica. That is in a sense a form of reparation, though I would be interested to hear what the proposals are and what the discussions are.

Sadiq Khan says he won't necessarily back Corbyn on all issues

Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate for London mayor, was one of the MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership, so that he could get on the ballot, without naming him as his first choice for leader. In an interview on the Today programme this morning, Khan said that he would be “working closely” with Corbyn on issues like housing and inequality, but that on other issues they would probably “respectfully and fraternally disagree”. It was good that Corbyn was allowing disagreement, he said.

Khan said that imposing a financial transaction tax unilaterally - an idea that John McDonnell has not firmly ruled out, although he has stressed his preference for doing it globally - would be bad for the City.

I also think the idea of unilaterally imposing a financial transaction tax, I’m all in favour of transparency and openness, but we can’t unilaterally bring in a tax here when our competitors in Tokyo and New York aren’t.

And he said he welcomed the fact that Corbyn had clarified his stance on Europe, and committed Labour to campaigning for an in vote.

I am unequivocal about this and I will be passionately arguing for us to stay a member of the EU. And again I’m pleased that Jeremy and John agree with me now and they also have said that we are going to be campaigning for a yes vote.

Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Here’s a video of the Guardian’s Steve Bell painting Jeremy Corbyn.

Jeremy Corbyn's morning interviews - Summary

Jeremy Corbyn sounded remarkably relaxed in his interviews this morning. In interviews with people like Sarah Montague and Eamonn Holmes, he was good humoured and funny. The interviews did not contain any huge surprises, although, even though we know that he does not approve of nuclear weapons, it was significant to hear him say that he would never press the nuclear button if he were prime minister.

Here are the key points.

  • Corbyn said that, if he were prime minister, he would not be willing to press the nuclear button.

Corbyn said:

There are five declared nuclear weapon states in the world. There are three others that have nuclear weapons. That is eight countries out of 192 ... So 187 countries don’t feel the need to have a nuclear weapon to protect their security. Why should those five need it themselves? We are not in the era of the cold war anymore. It finished a long time ago.

In the middle that answer Montague asked him: “You wouldn’t use it?” And he replied: “No.”

As the New Statesman’s George Eaton points out, this means that Corbyn has already answered the question about whether Labour would have a nuclear deterrent under his leadership.

But Paul Richards, a Labour rightwinger and former special adviser, thinks Corbyn misunderstands the nature of the nuclear deterrent.

Corbyn on the Today programme
  • Corbyn refused to rule out giving Labour MPs a free vote on military action in Syria. Asked about this, he said that at this point it was not clear what motion the Commons might be asked to support.
  • He dismissed claims that Labour was divided.

It’s not a divided party. I received 60% of the votes of all party members and supporters, it’s the biggest mandate any leader has ever been given in the Labour Party and I respect that mandate and I respect the people that voted for me.

Yes, there are some Labour MPs - maybe more than some - who do not agree with me on my belief that we should not be renewing our nuclear fleet, the Trident system ... That is a debate the party will be having and a debate where I put my points of view forward. There is nothing dishonest in having this open debate.

  • He said he was “loving every minute” of being Labour leader.

I quite liked those words, I quite liked the way he put them. We changed them around a little bit and we put them into the speech. I don’t think there is anything particularly bad about that - it’s a message I wanted to put forward and it’s quite disappointing, really, some people are obsessed almost with these 350 words. There were lots of other words in the speech, there were references to many other people a well. All of us research things, all of us resource things, all of us learn from each other. Is that such a bad thing?

Updated

Corbyn says this is the first conference of a new style of doing politics.

Q: How long do you have to prove to people that this new way of doing things can work?

Corbyn says there is no timescale. There are processes in the Labour party. He promised a balanced shadow cabinet. He delivered it, and he did so more quickly than other leaders in the past.

And that’s it. The interview is over.

I will post a summary soon.

Q: What is your irreducible core?

Corbyn says he is campaigning for a Europe of social solidarity, and an economic policy with a 50p top rate of tax, and investment in a growing economy.

Q: You campaigned for a higher top rate of tax, opposition to the fiscal charter, being sceptical about the EU and being opposed to the benefits cap. You have jettisoned those positions.

Corbyn says he does not accept that. The party will now decide policy. He wants to keep it together.

Q: Would you stop arm sales to Saudi Arabia?

Corbyn says he would review all those sales.

Corbyn says he would not press the nuclear button

Q: As prime minister would you get rid of Trident?

Corbyn says he wants Britain to fulfil its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. We should not be spending £100bn on Trident renewal. Some in the armed forces agree.

Q: You would not use nuclear weapons no, would you?

Corbyn says there are five countries with declared nuclear weapons, and another three with undeclared nuclear weapons. Some 187 countries in the world do not have them. So why do we need them.

Q: So you would not press the button?

No, says Corbyn.

Q: Why don’t you just tell your party that you won’t accept them?

Corbyn says the defence review does not just cover nuclear weapons.

He says he is very well aware of the views of those in the shadow cabinet who back nuclear weapons. But he is also aware of the views of the people who voted for him knowing his views on nuclear weapons.

Updated

Q: 11m people voted for the Conservatives. Are they “the few” you talked about in your speech?

Corbyn says they will be affected by the tax credits cuts.

Q: You are not ruling out appealing to Tory voters.

Absolutely not, says Corbyn. He says some Tory voters backed him in the leadership contest.

Q: Who was the speech aimed at?

At the party, at the country, and at the wider world, Corbyn says.

He wanted to set out his philosophy, he says.

Inequality in Britain today is disgraceful.

Q: To win, Labour will need 2.75m more votes. You are appealing to people who are disengaged. Only 47% of young people voted, he says. He says Labour’s first job is to get people onto the electoral register.

He also wants to appeal to those who were not enamoured with Labour’s economic policies at the last election.

Q: Why didn’t you mention the deficit in your speech?

Corbyn says he mentioned the balance of payments deficit. John McDonnell talked about the budget deficit in his speech, he says.

He says he was setting out his philosophy. He set out a strategy for investing in a growing economy.

Q: You did not mention immigration either. Andy Burnham will say today that Labour has not faced up to the problems of free movement in Europe.

Corbyn says he has discussed this repeatedly with Burnham, at the 31 hustings they did during the leadership campaign. Burnham wants the government to focus more on better services were immigration is putting pressure on existing services. But immigration should not be seen as a problem. Often it provides a good opportunity for Britain. And the inclusion of students in the statistics gives a misleading impression.

Jeremy Corbyn's Today interview

Sarah Montague is interviewing Jeremy Corbyn.

Q: Can you imagine becoming prime minister?

Obviously, he says. The Labour party is growing. It has a different philosophy from the Tories. He will fulfil his responsibilities.

Q: In your heart of hearts, do you want the job?

Yes, says Corbyn. In his heart of hearts he is very happy, he says.

He says he has an issue with the government over the number of people being kept off the electoral roll.

Updated

Corbyn refuses to rule out giving Labour MPs a free vote on Syria

Jeremy Corbyn has done three interviews already, with Good Morning Britain, the BBC and Sky. Here are the main points.

  • Corbyn sidestepped a question about whether he would allow Labour MPs a free vote on military action in Syria. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, told a Guardian fringe last night he favoured a free vote. Asked about this, Corbyn said it was not clear yet what MPs might be asked to vote on.
  • Corbyn defended his decision to include in his speech an extract largely drafted by Richard Heller. He said that Heller was a friend of his, that he liked what Heller had written and that there was nothing wrong with learning from others.
  • Corbyn said that he has changed his tie at the last minute before his speech, and borrowed a tie from someone else, because his advisers thought the one he was wearing was the wrong shade of red.

Jeremy Corbyn is doing a round of broadcast interviews this morning. He has just been on Sky, he is on BBC News now, and he will be on Today at 8.10am. I will be covering the Today interview minute by minute, and posting the highlights from all his other interviews too.

Here’s the main Guardian story about his speech yesterday. And here’s how it starts.

Jeremy Corbyn has used his introductory speech to Labour conference to tell the British people they “never have to take what they are given”, as he promised to stir up discontent across Britain against injustice and prejudice.

Much of the one-hour address in Brighton was dedicated to spelling out his “kinder politics” and designed to introduce his political values and brand of patriotism to the British public.

Ending his speech, Corbyn said: “Don’t accept injustice, stand up against prejudice. Let us build a kinder politics, a more caring society together. Let us put our values, the people’s values, back into politics.”

He also used the speech to assert his authority within Labour by saying he had a personal mandate from his election as party leader to oppose a new generation of nuclear weapons to replace Trident.

His remarks on nuclear arms will alarm those shadow cabinet members who believed the party conference had agreed not to change the existing defence policy and had been given personal assurances that Corbyn would not impose his views on his colleagues.

And here’s the agenda for the day.

10.30am: Conference opens with a speech from Lesley Mannaseh from the TUC.

10.45am: Sadiq Khan, the Labour candidate for London mayor, gives a speech.

10.55am: Delegates debate an emergency motion on Syria

11.15am: Debate on stronger, safer communities, with speeches from Lord Falconer, the shadow justice secretary, and Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary.

12.05pm: Debate on health and care, with speeches from Luciana Berger, the shadow minister for mental health, or Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary.

1.05pm: Debate on education, with Lucy Powell, the shadow education secretary.

1.45pm: Tom Watson, the deputy leader, gives a speech closing the conference.

At some point this morning I will also be writing a post on 10 things we’ve learnt from the Labour conference.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, or get in touch, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

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