Jeremy Corbyn Attacked for Refusing to Sing British National Anthem

His comments came after another Conservative candidate for mayor, Andrew Boff, said: “I had the absolute tickles when I found out that Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party”.

Mr Gilbert, who backed Yvette Cooper to be leader, said: “It is no secret I didn’t vote for Jeremy personally, but we have to respect the result, particularly given the overwhelming scale of victory”.

In the past, Corbyn has spoken of his desire to turn Britain into a republic.

Mr Corbyn will aim to move the spotlight away from the controversy after inviting his supporters to tell him what they would like him to ask Mr Cameron – a request which drew 33,000 responses from the public.

The Sun first turned heads Tuesday by reporting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn agreed to join the queen’s Privy Council to “get his hands on 6.2 million pounds of state cash”.

Reading from a list of questions sent to him by voters after an appeal on the Internet, Corbyn asked about housing, mental health and changes to welfare.

Mr Corbyn has been heavily criticised – including by members of his own front bench – after remaining silent while David Cameron and others sang the anthem during a Battle of Britain commemoration at St Paul’s Cathedral. “Basically, on the question of Europe I want to see a social Europe, a cohesive Europe, a coherent Europe, not a free market Europe”, he said.

But minutes later a Labour spokesman insisted Mr Corbyn had “meant to say” he would sing.

“The present policy position of the party, decided collectively by the party – and that’s the way we make policy in the Labour party, Jeremy is very respectful of the collective approach – is that we accept the principle of the cap, but it is not now before parliament to have a vote to remove it all together”.

“Gross levels of poverty and inequality, that is what the Tories have in store for us”, he said in a speech interrupted by applause and rewarded with a standing ovation.

Some were uneasy and critical at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party addressed by the new leader.

“I think many people will be surprised”. But as the OBR warned after the Budget, too much meddling over rents and right to buy could lead the Office for National Statistics to reclassify them, thus transferring all that debt onto the public balance sheet.

The service focused on honouring the “many” who supported the Battle of Britain pilots famously described by wartime prime minister Winston Churchill as “The Few”.

Newly-appointed shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy said Mr Corbyn should have sung the anthem to “avoid all the fuss”.