Sir Keir Starmer has denied he was ever a friend of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, despite previously describing him as one.
The Labour leader sought to distance himself from Islington North MP Mr Corbyn, who now sits as an independent in Parliament following the party’s handling of antisemitism allegations under his stewardship.
Sir Keir last month confirmed that Mr Corbyn would not be the party’s candidate for the Islington North constituency at the next general election.
While taking questions on LBC Radio to mark his third anniversary as Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir was pressed again about his relationship with Mr Corbyn, who he once described as a “colleague” and a “friend”.
Sir Keir told LBC: “I think and hope that my position is very clear. Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate at the next election.
“That is a decision of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee of two weeks ago now, so as we go into the next election Jeremy Corbyn will not be a Labour candidate.”
Pressed about whether Mr Corbyn was ever a friend, Sir Keir said: “No, not in the sense that we went to visit each other or anything like that. I worked with him as a colleague.
“As I say, I haven’t spoken to him now for two-and-a-half years.”
Sir Keir also insisted he had not backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the party, but had accepted a role in his shadow cabinet to maintain an “effective opposition”.
He said: “Let’s just run through it. I didn’t vote for him in 2015 when he stood as leader. I wanted him to stand down in 2016, he won again. I again didn’t vote for him.
“But I did take the view that we needed an effective opposition, that I shouldn’t just walk off the stage.”
Sir Keir was a backer of Andy Burnham’s bid for the party leadership in 2015, and was a supporter of Owen Smith the following year.
During the 2020 leadership contest, Sir Keir described Mr Corbyn as both a colleague and a friend.
But the former leader has since rubbished the suggestion, and said he and his successor were not personally close.
In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr in April 2020, Keir Starmer was asked if he saw Jeremy Corbyn as a friend, to which he replied: “Yes, he is a friend. He’s obviously a colleague as well, but yes, he’s a friend.”
Mr Corbyn remains a member of the Labour Party but has lost the whip, meaning he sits in the Commons as an independent.
He was suspended over his response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission finding that Labour under his leadership was responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination as he struggled to tackle antisemitism.
Sir Keir barred his predecessor from standing for Labour again at the end of March.
Mr Corbyn has said he has “no intention of stopping” fighting for his constituents, who he has represented since 1983.
But he would be likely to be stripped of his Labour membership if he decided to stand as an independent candidate at the next election.
Related: Corbyn says he’s going nowhere following Starmer snub