Ed Miliband said he could not recall if he cried after losing the 2015 general election.
Speaking to Eddie Mair on Sunday’s Andrew Marr Show, the former Labour leader said that the days following the loss were “very, very upsetting days”.
When asked if he cried following the defeat, Miliband said: “I don’t recall.
“It was very upsetting, the days afterwards were very, very upsetting days.”
Asked how he dealt with the disappointment, he said: “My family. My kids know who I am which is dead boring. No, I’m kidding but there’s something about being leader of the opposition, it’s hard to have a normal life.
“I tell you what has been one of the biggest pieces of solace for me is the British people actually. The people you meet on the street. Sometimes I ended up comforting them. It’s when people say to you ‘when that exit poll came out, wasn’t it terrible’ and you say ‘yeah I was there too’.
“But people saying ‘look, I supported you’ or ‘I liked some of the things you were saying’ or ‘I didn’t support you but I think some of what you might have been saying was right.
“The other things is - because I don’t think one should be too introspective about this and I’m not generally an introspective person - I suppose I knew straight away that I didn’t want to leave British politics because I meant what I said when I resigned, which is there’s other ways than being leader of taking forward the argument about the country.”
Although opinion polls in the run-up to the election predicted a tight result, the Conservatives ultimately won convincingly .
Miliband resigned and was succeeded as Labour leader by Jeremy Corbyn.