JEREMY Corbyn has denied ‘malicious’ claims that he is leader of the Labour Party.

The Islington MP insisted it was ‘gossip from the Westminster bubble’ and pledged to carry on not being the Labour Party leader until the next general election at the earliest.

In a speech in London he said: “I don’t know who the Labour leader is. No one does. And that is the way it should be.

“The leader of the Labour Party is an idea, not a person. It is a concept, not a name, or a face, or a brain.”

He added: “The leader of the Labour Party does not campaign or say things to people. It exists solely in our imaginations, like a unicorn that’s not particularly fussed about the EU.”