Jeremy Corbyn 'really angry' about Tory failure to punish tax cheats and greedy bankers

Jeremy Corbyn said the Tories' failure to punish greedy bankers and rip-off bosses makes him “really angry”, as he pumped passion into Labour’s troubled election campaign.

The Labour leader – who has been criticised for his laid-back style – turned up the volume as he vowed a “reckoning” to rescue the NHS, housing and other public services.

“When did the Conservatives – Osborne, Cameron, May, Johnson – ever stand up to their financial backers and demand our money back?” he asked a Labour rally.

“Never and they never will. It makes me angry. It makes me really angry. And I know it makes the people of Britain angry too.

“So today, I say to tax cheats, the rip off bosses, the greedy bankers - enough is enough. The people of Britain are taking our money back.”

In an interview later, he accused the Tories of “megaphone diplomacy” and making “absurd claims about what the EU is or isn't doing to the British election” because of Brexit.

Mr Corbyn’s anger was put on show as he insisted the local election results – despite Labour’s huge losses – had shown the “pundits” were wrong to believe the election is in the bag for Theresa May.

Labour is taking heart from an analysis suggesting the Conservatives failed to match their massive poll lead, although that analysis still suggested an 11-point gap on Thursday.

“We know from yesterday’s election results that the gap between us and the Tories is not as great as the pundits have been saying,” Mr Corbyn claimed.

“But we still have many people to convince. We have four weeks to do that. Are we up to the challenge? Millions are still sceptical and undecided, not sure which way to turn.”

Nevertheless, Mr Corbyn finally admitted the results – with the loss of hundreds of council seats and key mayoral races – had been “disappointing”. He previously called them “mixed”.

Earlier, his joint campaigns co-ordinator, Ian Lavery, was forced to insist Mr Corbyn would not quit, saying: “He is the leader of the Labour Party and will continue as the leader of the Labour Party.”

However, Mr Lavery admitted some voters were rejecting Mr Corbyn in doorstep conversations with Labour activists, even as he insisted “not all of them have been negative”.

Strikingly, the latest rally was staged in the safe seat of Leicester South, where Labour enjoys a majority of nearly 20,000, rather than on territory the party needs to win

Mr Corbyn urged voters not to give in to the Tories’ “fearmongering and spin machine” with the danger it would “make some people settle for less than they should”.

Playing the role of an insurrectionary, Mr Corbyn said Labour was “standing up to the elites” who wanted to hijack Brexit for the wealthy and “plunder the NHS”.

“That’s why Labour is under attack. We’re drawing a line,” he pledged.

“Don’t wake on up on 9 June to see celebrations from the tax cheats, the press barons, the greedy bankers, Philip Green, the Southern Rail directors and crooked bankers that take our wealth, who have got away with it because the party they own, the Conservative Party, has won.”