Tyson Fury: Jeremy Corbyn wants to sit down champion boxer and tell him ‘it’s OK to be gay’

Labour leader says he ‘wishes Fury hadn’t made those remarks’ on eve of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award

World boxing champion Tyson Fury’s personality is not to everyone’s taste

Jeremy Corbyn would like to sit down with Tyson Fury and “have a chat with him” about his comments on gay people.

Boxing champion Fury was in the running for Sunday night’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, despite controversy over his reported comparison of homosexuality with abortion and paedophilia.

Speaking in an interview with the Huffington Post, Mr Corbyn said he wanted to let the sportsman know that “it’s OK” to be gay.

Jeremy Corbyn said he wished Fury 'hadn't made those remarks' (PA)

The Labour leader’s comments were altogether more diplomatic than those of the BBC’s own presenter Clive Myrie, who implied Fury was “a d*ckhead” live on TV. The corporation was later forced to apologise.

Almost 140,000 people have signed a petition to have Fury removed from the BBC SPOTY shortlist, in which he features alongside the likes of Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah, Chris Froome, Lewis Hamilton and Andy Murray.

An evangelical Christian, Fury reportedly told the Mail on Sunday that he believed there were “three things that need to be accomplished before the Devil comes home – one of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is paedophilia”.

Mr Corbyn said: “I wish he hadn’t made those remarks.

“I’m very unclear as to what he actually believes. I’d like to meet him and have a chat, if he’s up for it.”

“I think there’s good in everybody. So let’s recognise we live in a world where people are gay, people are straight, people are transsexual, it’s OK, it’s not the end of the world, people have different faiths, it’s OK, it’s not the end of the world.

“I’d love to have a chat with him. I don’t know how he’d be with me, but I’m sure we could find something to talk about.”

The winner of BBC SPOTY is decided by public vote, and will be revealed during a live show in Belfast on Sunday night.