Watch: Jeremy Corbyn hits back at Tories who complain about his 'scruffy' dress sense in the 1980s
Video of a 35-year-old Jeremy Corbyn in 1984 gives us a taste of things to come if front-runner succeeds in winning Labour leadership
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Your support makes all the difference.Footage has emerged of Jeremy Corbyn taking on his Tory critics in the 1980s who complained about his scruffy dress sense.
"It’s not a fashion parade, it’s not a gentleman’s club, it’s not a banker’s institute; it’s a place where the people are represented," Mr Corbyn says in defence of his right not to wear the dinner jackets chosen by the Tories.
Wearing a jumper knitted by his mother and a shirt bought from his local co-operative, a 35-year-old Mr Corbyn goes on the attack, describing how "fleets of limousines" draw up carrying "large Tory MPs with even larger stomachs" for late-night votes in the Commons.
And any suggestion Mr Corbyn was simply jealous of the fancy dinner invitations enjoyed by Tory MPs was swiftly dismissed by the young MP: "I get dinner invitations all the time," he says, insisting the role of an MP should be to "represent their people" instead of wining and dining every evening.
It gives us a taste of things to come if Mr Corbyn, now 66, wins the Labour leadership contest, as he is widely expected to in less than a month's time.
Here's the BBC Newsnight video from 1984:
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