Former Conservative grandee Jeffrey Archer says he would vote for Corbyn if he lived in north

‘With half of what he says, I find myself agreeing 100 per cent,’ says novelist

Jeffrey Archer also criticised calls for a referendum on the final Brexit deal (Getty Images)

Former Conservative grandee Jeffery Archer has said he would vote for Jeremy Corbyn if he lived in the north.

The ex-Tory party deputy chair – also revealed that he agreed “100 per cent” with half of the Labour leader’s policies.

“I was travelling through the northwest of England recently, where I was giving a speech at a school, and as I looked out of the window it did make me think I’d vote for Corbyn if I lived up here,” he told the The Sunday Telegraph.

“I felt I had too much, that I’m over-privileged. And with half of what Corbyn says, I find myself agreeing with him 100 per cent. It’s the other half that’s the problem.”

It is not the first time the novelist – who was jailed for perjury in 2001 and now sits as an independent peer in the House of Lords – appears to have offered Corbyn his approval, albeit with qualifications.

In November last year, he told The Spectator: “I’m fairly convinced Corbyn will be prime minister.

“His problem is, in my view, Momentum,” he added at the time. “Because they’re genuinely dangerous. They will remove decent, middle-class thinkers out of the Labour party. They’ll just get rid of them in favour of communists.”

Elsewhere in the new interview, the 78-year-old weighed in on a string of current political issues, lavishing praise on Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg as “the best parliamentarian” he had seen but “the wrong man” to succeed Theresa May as party leader.

“I think he’d make a brilliant speaker of the House of Commons,” he said. “He has a lovely feel for the house, but not leader.”

Lord Archer also poured scorn on calls for a second ballot on Brexit, saying: “I voted Remain, and I lost, so I thoroughly disapprove of the idea of being asked to vote again.”