Jeremy Corbyn says he will stay on as Labour leader even if he loses the election

Jeremy Corbyn: Picture credit - Joe Giddens/PA Wire/PA Images

Jeremy Corbyn has said he will stay on as Labour leader even if the party loses the general election. 

In a move which will dismay his internal party critics, he insisted he would be "carrying on" in the role regardless of the result on 8 June.

He told Buzzfeed: "I was elected leader of this party and I’ll stay leader of this party."

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Previous Labour leaders Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband resigned in the aftermath of their election defeats in 2010 and 2015.

But Corbyn's supporters are likely to point to the example of Neil Kinnock, who stayed on to fight the 1992 general election despite losing to Margaret Thatcher in 1987.

Opinion polls - and the results of last week's local elections - suggest the Conservatives are heading for a comfortable victory next month.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell - Corbyn's closest frontbench ally - declined at the weekend to repeat his previous claim that it was "inevitable" that an election defeat would see Corbyn leave his job. 

Asked by Buzzfeed if the constant criticism of his leadership upset him, Corbyn said: "It doesn’t get to me at all. What I would say is that is about the party as a whole, the policies we’re putting forward as a whole, and the individual messenger is the person who’s doing their best to put those policies forward. I was elected leader of this party, I’m proud to do it, and I’ll carry on doing it."

Corbyn's comments came as he prepared to formally launch Labour's election campaign in Manchester today.

But one Labour source told PoliticsHome: "He and the leaders' office seem to have decided to sabotage our own campaign launch."

At the launch event, Corbyn will promise “a reckoning” for those profiting from the “rigged” system if Labour is in power on 9 June.

He will also attempt to move on from internal rows about the party’s stance on leaving the European Union.

“This election isn’t about Brexit itself. That issue has been settled. The question now is what sort of Brexit do we want – and what sort of country do we want Britain to be after Brexit?

“Labour wants a jobs-first Brexit, a Brexit that safeguards the future of Britain’s vital industries, a Brexit that paves the way to a genuinely fairer society and an upgraded economy.”

Repeating his attempt to pitch Labour as the alternative to the likes of Philip Green and Southern Rail, he will say there are four weeks for the party to convince voters that Britain “can be transformed”.

“Labour is offering a real choice, a real alternative to the rigged system holding us back and to the Conservatives who are running our country down,” Corbyn will say.

“The economy is rigged in favour of the rich and powerful.

“When Labour wins there will be a reckoning for those who thought they could get away with asset stripping our industry, crashing our economy through their greed and ripping off workers and consumers.

“Don’t wake on up on 9 June to see celebrations from the tax cheats, the press barons, the greedy bankers, Philip Green, the Southern Rail directors and crooked financiers that take our wealth, who have got away with it because the party they own, the Conservative party, has won.

“We have four weeks to ruin their party. We have four weeks to take our wealth back. We have four weeks to win and transform Britain for the many not the few.”