Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of "unprincipled flip-flopping" after claiming he never thought Jeremy Corbyn would win the election.
In a new documentary about the Labour leader, 'Keir Starmer: Up Close – Tonight', he said: "I didn't think the Labour Party was in a position to win the last election".
But Tory MPs have piled in on the Labour leader, accusing him of betraying his own principles.
Ben Bradley, MP for Mansfield, claimed Starmer would "jump on any bandwagon he thinks will get him in to Government", while Lee Anderson told GB News the Labour leader is "no better than Corbyn".
Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of "unprincipled flip-flopping" after claiming he never thought the ex-Labour leader would win the election
PA
Meanwhile, Conservative Party Chairman Richard Holden accused Starmer of "saying one thing but doing another".
Speaking about Corbyn in the ITV documentary, the Labour leader said he felt a "responsibility" to serve as shadow Brexit secretary in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet.
He said: "I thought that once the 2016 Brexit referendum had happened, I took the view that what then followed in the next few years was going to be felt for generations.
"And that I thought it was my responsibility to play a full part in that."
Just months after taking over from Corbyn as Labour leader in 2020, Starmer suspended him as a Labour MP over his response to a report into antisemitism complaints under his leadership.
Responding to Starmer's remarks, Bradley told GB News: "Apparently it's OK to campaign in favour of something you actually oppose, as long as you don't win.
"This statement takes his unprincipled flip-flopping to a whole new level.
"He's got no plan at all, and will jump on any bandwagon he thinks will get him into Government."
Anderson added: "Sir Keir is not on his own with this opinion. I remember the mood on the doorstep in Ashfield during the Corbyn era and ex Labour voters were furious with their old party.
"Perhaps that's why Sir Keir sat with Corbyn on the front bench waiting to make his move.
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"Over the past few weeks, we have seen in the media some of the vile creatures Sir Kier has helped in the past whilst he was an human rights barrister. Some will say he is no better than Corbyn, he's just better at getting away with it."
Anderson served as a Labour councillor for three years when Corbyn was leader of the party, before later defecting to the Conservatives.
Responding to Starmer's remarks, Holden added: "Even Sir Keir Starmer himself now admits people should not believe what he says.
"It’s extraordinary that Sir Keir campaigned twice to put Jeremy Corbyn, a man who called terrorist groups ‘friends’, into 10 Downing Street and even said he would make ‘a great Prime Minister’ just so he could force a second Brexit referendum on Britain.
"Sir Keir Starmer’s record of saying one thing but doing another explains why he can’t say how he would change Britain because he hasn’t got a plan. That’s why he would take us back to square one."