Jeremy Corbyn facing claim he congratulated Leave campaign on 'good work' while publicly opposing Brexit

Jeremy Corbyn is facing an explosive claim that he congratulated the Leave campaign on its “good work” during the referendum, while publicly opposing Brexit.

The Labour leader praised the party’s rebel campaign to pull the UK out of the EU, according to a podcast made for a respected political think tank, saying: “Good on you, keep up the good work.”

The allegation comes after repeated suggestions that Mr Corbyn privately supported Brexit and that his office “sabotaged” the official Labour campaign to stop it.

It has been strongly denied by Labour, which said: “This is absolute nonsense. Jeremy campaigned for Remain and reform of the EU, travelling almost 3,000 miles during the course of the campaign to speak at events and rallies.”

However, one pro-EU Labour MP said he wanted reassurance there was “no truth” in the claim, while Sir Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said it explained why Labour had spent two years “waving through the Conservatives’ Brexit”.

The podcast, to be broadcast on Wednesday, features an interview with Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of Vote Leave, who says he was told of Mr Corbyn’s comment by the person he said it to.

“I understand that during the referendum, he came up to somebody from the Labour Leave campaign and basically said, ‘good on you, keep up the good work’,” Mr Elliott says.

During the podcast made for the group UK in a Changing Europe, Mr Elliott is then asked if the comment was made to Kate Hoey, a prominent Labour Leave activist. He replies: “I’m not going to name names.”

But he adds: “I think that, with both John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn, their voting records up to the point at which they became leaders of their party was a Eurosceptic voting record.

“Also, I think, ideologically, they see the EU in a different way – they see it more as being perhaps a capitalist club.

“They see it as being the bosses’ club, undermining workers’ rights and stopping things like nationalisations and all that sort of stuff.”

Speaking to The Independent, Mr Elliott again declined to reveal his source, but said: “I was told directly by the Labour Leaver who Corbyn had spoken to, and have no reason to disbelieve them.”

Mr Corbyn has been dogged by allegations that his office undermined Labour’s Remain campaign, made most powerfully by Alan Johnson, the former home secretary, who led it.

Immediately after the shock 2016 referendum result, in a leaked letter to colleagues, Mr Johnson described his leader’s performance in the campaign as “risible”.

“The lukewarm approach by Jeremy was bad enough but there is no doubt in my mind that at least three of his closest associates in the leader’s office were actively undermining the party’s efforts,” he wrote.

“They wanted Leave to succeed and at best Jeremy could not control them; at worst, he was sympathetic to their views.”

Mr Johnson’s deputy, Labour MP Phil Wilson, echoed the criticism, saying: “Corbyn made only a smattering of campaign appearances, and they were lacklustre in delivery and critical of the EU in tone, resulting in Labour voters not knowing the party’s position or hearing our argument.”

Just before Britain went to the polls, Mr Corbyn himself rated his support for remaining in the EU at about “seven, or seven and a half” out of 10.

However, a year ago, he insisted he voted to stay in the EU and would do so again, saying: “I thought the best option was to remain, I haven’t changed my mind on that.”

Chris Leslie, the prominent pro-EU MP, said: “Brexit is a disaster for the least well-off in our society and will usher in a further decade of austerity, which is why so many of us were urging Labour’s leadership to be more supportive of the Remain campaign at the time. I sincerely hope that there is no truth in this report.”

And Sir Vince said: “We’ve always suspected that Corbyn wanted to leave the EU and this evidence is damning.

“It explains why Corbyn and his acolytes have spent the last two years fudging their position in public while waving through the Conservatives’ Brexit in parliament.”

The podcast was made last year but is only being broadcast now for reasons that are unclear.

Mr Elliott – who also set up the low-tax Taxpayers’ Alliance pressure group – was being lined to work for Theresa May, but the idea came to nothing.