Owen Smith accused of ‘degrading‘ the Labour leadership contest after branding Jeremy Corbyn a ‘lunatic‘
Former Shadow cabinet member denied he was talking about the veteran leftie and apologised ‘if anybody was offended‘
LABOUR Leadership challenger Owen Smith has been forced to apologise after seeming to call his rival Jeremy Corbyn a “lunatic”.
The former Shadow cabinet member is accused of “degrading” the contest and “injects an ugly tone” into it with the remarks at a rally in London last night.
Mr Smith has since denied he was referring to the veteran leftie with his comment, and said he is sorry “if anybody was offended”.
The ex-Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary said at the event in Hammersmith: “What you won’t get from me, is some, you know, lunatic at the top of the Labour Party.”
His outburst was caught on camera by reporter Tom Peck, who posted a recording on social media."
It was while answering a question on how they could win back Tory voters he said: “At a hustings a few weeks ago, Jeremy Corbyn said, ‘Yes we’ve got to get some of the people who contemplated voting Tory in the past to vote Labour’.
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“Rubbish! We’ve got to get two million people who actually voted Tory, 12 months ago, to vote Labour, in 106 seats.
“And what you won’t get from me, is some, you know, lunatic at the top of the Labour Party, you’ll have someone who tries to form a coherent narrative about what’s wrong with Britain.”
Mr Corbyn’s team have demanded he apologise for the slur, saying he should apologise to those suffering from mental illness.
A spokesman for him said: "Owen Smith has degraded this contest by descending into personal abuse.
“He should apologise to people suffering with mental illness, many of whom would have been dismayed and upset to hear such offensive language used in public by a Labour politician.
"He should also withdraw his remark, and spend time with people suffering from mental health problems to develop some sensitivity in his use of language.
“This is simply not the language that someone standing to lead our party should use, and it injects an ugly tone into this contest that no Labour member wants to see."
Responding to the row, Mr Smith denied he was talking about Mr Corbyn when he used the word "lunatic".
Speaking on BBC Breakfast he said: "I was asked a question about me and somebody talking about me running around like a lunatic.
“If anybody has been offended by the use of that word I apologise, I was trying to say that my policies were sensible and I would be a sensible leader of the Labour party.
“I certainly wasn't talking about Jeremy Corbyn."