Jeremy Corbyn has said the press should treat him with “respect” as he warned Theresa May the 2017 election was just a “dry run” for the next campaign.
Speaking in Milton Keynes on Monday afternoon, the Labour leader attacked the “doom merchants” who had incorrectly predicted the prime minister would win with a landslide.
“The election campaign ended on June 8 and the campaign to elect a Labour government started on June 9,” he said.
Corbyn is staging rallies across the UK, including in the north of England, Wales and Scotland, over the summer parliamentary recess as part of his plan to keep his party on a campaign footing.
“I did 100 events during the election campaign. That was just a dry run, a dress rehearsal. Next time we are going to do even more,” he told the crowd yesterday.
He said Labour did well “despite the way in which most of the print media treated us, refused to report what we are saying or simply peddled abuse against individuals in the Labour Party”.
“I don’t care what anyone says about me or about other people,” Corbyn said to cheers. “The levels of gutter abuse that they fell to says much more about them.
“I treat people with respect and I expect to be treated with respect in return.
“A political argument is worth having. Personal abuse is never worth having under any circumstances.”
In his speech to supporters in Milton Keynes, Corbyn also attacked the Conservative Party’s “misguided” housing policy.
He vowed to fight housing insecurity, which he said was “unnecessary, unfortunate and wrong”.
And Corbyn condemned the Tories for failing to lift the 1% pay cap for public sector workers amid “crocodile tears” for the bravery of emergency workers after terror attacks in London and Manchester, and the Grenfell Tower fire.