Bernie Sanders has desperately rushed to distance himself from his older brother's comments about Bill Clinton being a 'rapist'.

Larry Sanders, an 80-year-old left-wing politician in the UK, scathingly took down the former president in an interview last week about his brother's bid for the Democrat nomination.

He was explaining that he felt Hillary Clinton has not been adequately probed on the detail of her policies - but added a dig about her husband's love life.

'You don't get that detailed discussion,' he told the Daily Beast - adding: 'You get: "Is Hillary a nice person? Is Bill really such a terrible rapist or is he a nice rapist?"'

On Sunday, Bernie, 74, rushed to clarify that he would not call Bill Clinton a rapist and that he disagreed with his older brother.

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On Sunday, Bernie Sanders, 74, rushed to clarify that he would not call Bill Clinton a rapist and that he disagreed with his older brother Larry, 80, who said: 'Is Bill Clinton a terrible rapist or a nice rapist?'

George W. Bush was a bad president, but Bill Clinton was worse, Bernie Sanders' brother declared in an interview on Friday. Larry Sanders is pictured here in his kitchen in Oxford, England

'I disagree with what he said. He speaks for himself, not for me or my campaign,' he told CNN's Jake Tapper.

Instead, the younger Sanders turned the conversation to Hillary's attack on Wall Street, saying that she stole that line from him.

The two Democrat hopefuls are engaged in a neck-and-neck battle for the nomination.

Speaking to the Daily Beast, Larry Sanders made it clear he felt the Clintons were running an unfair campaign against he 'very socialist' brother, and accused them of trying to 'make it personal'.

'[Clinton] was a dreadful president—in general—for poor people.'

'A lot of bad key policies didn't come in under the Bushes,' he said.

'The imprisonment stuff stems back to him, the breaking up of the welfare system stems back to him, which caused a lot of misery, the trade deals—the NAFTA.'

As for Hillary, Sanders deemed her moderate policies 'feeble.'

'I certainly don’t dislike her—Bernard has been very clear to say he likes her and respects her but they have big differences on policy,' he said.

'They’re not friends but they’re people who worked near each other for 20 years.'

He added that, in his opinion, George W. Bush was a bad president, but Bill Clinton was worse.

The Sanders brothers, Bernie and Larry, in an undated photograph. Larry, right, is six years older than Bernie

Sanders said his younger brother, whom he calls Bernard, is 'very socialist' in his political outlook.

'Bernard is a genuine socialist in his sense of class warfare—that he thinks there is not a national interest so much as there is an interest with sectors of the population,' he told the Daily Beast.

'In that sense, his passion and the sense of conflict between the major owners and the rest of the population is very socialist.'

Sanders, who lives in the UK and works for the leftist Green Party, said he speaks to his brother every other Sunday.

'He'll say, "I'm tired. It's sooooo haaaard." So I say, "But it's going great?" and he says, "Yes, it's going great." I'm the outlet for that—I'm not sure he's even saying that to his wife.'

Bernie Sanders is a 'genuine socialist in his sense of class warfare,' his brother Larry said

As for the prospect of losing, Sanders said his little brother is not worried.

'What he said to me very clearly was: "I don't mind running and making a fool of myself, I've been humiliated before—I'll go back to doing the job I love, no big sweat, but if I do badly then everyone will say: 'See, I told you, nobody is interested in that crap.'" And for a generation those ideas and the millions of people he thinks need those ideas will be wiped out,' Larry said.

'He would not have run if he thought he would damage the cause—"I think I can make a respectable showing"—that was his decision. I’m not sure that he thought he could win.'

But Sanders thinks there's a good chance that might happen.

'The nomination is the hard part—if he wins the nomination it looks to me that he would win handily,' Sanders said. 'I think he’s likely to win.'

Larry Sanders, left, with little brother and future presidential candidate Bernie in an undated photograph

In Larry Sanders' view, Bernie's switch from Independent to Democratic Party member in 2015 did not constitute a compromise.

'He's not selling out—there is nothing that he's conceded to the Democratic Party other than the label.'

Speaking of the party establishment, Sanders said 'They must feel like they are up against a juggernaut at the moment—it is astonishing with their huge array of elected officials, party officials, and so on.'

'And Bernie comes along and says they got it wrong. Not drastically, not as bad as the Republicans but they got it wrong. And people are saying: "Oh, yeah." And they must feel—how did that happen?'

The Vermont senator has no plans to ditch the Democrats for a last-minute Independent run, Sanders said.

'He didn't want to go through all that bother and elect some right-wing terror. He thinks the Democratic Party should be like his policies.'