Jeremy Corbyn: I won't change my style if re-elected

Jeremy Corbyn - PA

Jeremy Corbyn has vowed that he will not change his style if he is re-elected Labour leader - and insisted he can be Prime Minister in 2020.

As voting closed in the bitter leadership election, and his rival Owen Smith all but conceding the contest, Corbyn told the BBC he said he will be "the same Jeremy Corbyn who's been through the last 30 years in parliament" if, as expected, he emerges victorious when the result is announced on Saturday morning.

He also said he was willing to "wipe the slate clean" with those Labour colleagues who have attacked him in recent months, but his comments will dismay many former shadow ministers who quit the Labour frontbench in protest at his leadership style since he was first elected a year ago.

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Asked if he will become 'Jeremy Corbyn Mark II' if he holds onto his job, he replied: "It’s sadly for everyone it’s the same Jeremy Corbyn.

"The same Jeremy Corbyn who’s been through the last year, indeed been through the last 30 years in parliament. I do know a lot of these people extremely well. I understand the strengths and the passions that many have and I invite them, if I get a second mandate on Saturday morning, to come on board, work together – as we have in the past and will in the future."

In a plea for Labour unity, Mr Corbyn said he had received "an awful lot of calls" from MPs keen to work with him if he is re-elected.

"Despite a lot of very personal criticism that have been made of me, very unpleasant remarks that have been made about me by a very large number of Labour MPs – I’ve not replied to any of them," he said.

"I’ve taken it all on board, understood what they’re saying, and ask them to behave in a decent and responsible way and come together so that we do have an ability to take the fight to the Tories. Wipe the slate clean and move forward."

Mr Corbyn insisted that despite the Tories' opinion poll leads, Labour was making progress under his leadership - and would continue to do so until the next election.

Asked if thinks he will be able to convince people of the need for a Labour government by 2020, he said: "Of course. Liverpool conference will be the turning point."

But in a further sign of the tensions at the top of the Labour party, Mr Corbyn rejected deputy leader Tom Watson's calls for the return of the electoral college system for electing Labour leaders.

Mr Watson also wants to see the system of registered supporters - who paid just £3 to get a vote in last year's leadership election - scrapped.

Dismissing that idea, Mr Corbyn said: "I think we have to stick with one member one vote. It’s what actually John Smith in the first place. The electoral college was a creation of the 1980s special conference of the Labour party.

"And it has resulted in a huge involvement of members in politics and political ideas that has surely got to be a good thing. And the system is that individual members of the party can vote. We have a system at the moment of registered supporters being able to vote and those who are in unions affiliated to the party can also register to vote. Many of those excluded from vote because of the cut-off date that was chosen subsequently registered as supporters in order to take part in this election."