Corbyn vows to serve full term as prime minister if Labour wins election

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to serve a full term as prime minister if his party wins the next general election.

Amid rumours that he is considering standing down, the 70-year-old said he was enjoying “campaigning all the time” and had done 40 events in August alone all around the country.

“I’m taking the party into the general election… to end austerity, to bring forward policies that bring about a better standard of living and better opportunities for people all across this country,” he told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show.

“I’m enjoying doing that, I’m campaigning all the time – I did 40 events during August alone all around the country.”

Asked if he would serve a full term, he replied: “Of course.”

Mr Corbyn also sought to play down a rift at the heart of his team after one of his closest aides – policy chief Andrew Fisher – resigned.

And he claimed he did not know that a motion to scrap Tom Watson’s position as deputy leader would be tabled at a meeting of the ruling National Executive Committee on the eve of the party’s conference.

Mr Corbyn said he gets on “absolutely fine” with Mr Watson, and conceded that while he knew there were “discussions going on about the role of deputy leader”, he did not know “that particular motion was going to be put at that time”.

The attempt to oust Mr Watson was abandoned on the first day of Labour’s conference following an intervention by the party leader.

Activists are braced for a marathon meeting on Sunday evening at the Brighton conference to decide on the wording of the motion on Labour’s Brexit policy.

Mr Corbyn defended his plan to go into a general election without saying whether he would campaign to remain in the European Union in the referendum he is promising.

The Labour leader hopes to negotiate a new Brexit deal with Brussels and put that to a public vote against the option of staying in the EU.

“What we have said is that we would want to hold a consultation, a special conference of our party at the point that we have got this offer from the EU, we’ve got this as a remain – and hopefully reform – option,” he told Marr.

“Because I do think even those that are strongly in favour of remain would recognise the EU needs to have some reforms.”