Richard Burgon says Labour lost under Jeremy Corbyn because party was too ‘conventional’ Exclusive: Richard Burgon says he wants to serve in the shadow Cabinet no matter who wins the top job

Labour could stop existing altogether if the party abandons the “pillars of Corbynism”, deputy leadership contender Richard Burgon has warned.

The left-wing flagbearer claimed the party risks being wiped off the electoral map unless it continues to embrace an “anti-establishment” stance. He suggested that Jeremy Corbyn lost the general election because his team ran a campaign which was too conventional, with mass rallies replaced by press conferences.

Mr Burgon has been endorsed by close allies of the leader including John McDonnell and Diane Abbott, but is trailing far behind Angela Rayner in the most recent poll.

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In an interview with i, he insisted he has a chance of victory: “I think we can still win, the opinion poll at the beginning of the contest shows a very different picture from the most recent opinion poll.”

‘Labour could die’

The Leeds East MP promised to uphold “the three pillars of Corbynism” with pledges to expand internal democracy, commit to public ownership of industry and give Labour members a veto over military action.

He said: “My warning is if the Labour party departs from being an anti-establishment party, I think the Labour party could die. And I say that not as hyperbole, but because I think it’s the truth.

“There is no reason for any party to think it has the automatic right to exist and be successful. The only party in a way that has that right is the Conservative party because the Conservative party is attached to the ruling elite, the establishment.

“It could be the case that the devastating defeat that we suffered in 2019 is the start of something worse if we don’t draw the correct lessons from the election… What happened in Scotland in 2015 could happen in other parts of the country as well.”

Corbyn ‘too conventional’

Asked what Mr Corbyn did wrong in the election campaign, Mr Burgon said: “We allowed the imagery of our party in the 2019 general election to become more conventional and less anti-establishment.

“In 2017 there were plenty of pictures and images of Jeremy speaking to big crowds outside, people hanging off the branches of trees to catch a glimpse or hear what he was saying, and that seemed to be replaced in 2019 more by images of Jeremy announcing policies in front of red screens to rooms of journalists.”

Despite supporting Rebecca Long-Bailey for the leadership, Mr Burgon said he was keen to serve in the shadow Cabinet no matter who wins the top job – adding that his dream post would be shadow Foreign Secretary.

He insisted that even if the more moderate Keir Starmer becomes leader the left will unite behind him, saying: “It’s generally been the right of the Labour party that has thrown its toys out of the pram.”

Mr Burgon called on Labour to learn lessons from the left in other countries, describing Sinn Fein’s recent success in Ireland as “inspiring” and warning that in the US Bernie Sanders risks being “swindled out of the nomination” by a “crooked Democratic establishment stitch-up”.

And he dismissed online mockery of some of his more radical policies, such as setting up the Tony Benn School of Political Education – Mr Burgon said he had “helped to shape the debate” despite the criticism.