Jeremy Corbyn 'grateful' for Labour conference speech ideas

Jeremy Corbyn has defended his decision to use lines offered to, and rejected by, previous leaders in his speech to the Labour party conference.

He said he was "grateful" to former political adviser Richard Heller for submitting wording to include.

But Mr Corbyn said the lines were 350 words out of a 5,000 word speech, which he hoped encompassed the "philosophy" he wants to pursue.

Mr Heller said he was "delighted" his ideas had been used.

Mr Corbyn's speech to the Labour conference in Brighton was his first since becoming the party's new leader.

Elements of the address drew heavily on passages offered to Ed Miliband in 2011, but which were not used by the then Labour leader.

The similarity between writer Mr Heller's unsolicited suggestions to Mr Miliband and the speech delivered in Brighton by Mr Corbyn were highlighted by the Spectator.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for Mr Corbyn confirmed that Mr Heller's words were used "as a source" for some of the material in the speech, which was written by Mr Corbyn and his chief of staff, Neale Coleman.

In a round of post-speech media interviews, Mr Corbyn said he had been received ideas from "a number of people" in preparation for the speech.

He added: "There were 350 words sent in by a friend of mine which he was actually not aware we were thinking about using [and] we did use.

"I'm grateful to him for that and I think we put together a speech which I hope encompassed all that I was trying to say about philosophy, about ideas, about values and some areas of policy."

He said the speech was nearly an hour and it was over 5,000 words and tried to communicate - with his party and the British public - "the kind of politics that I think is better for the country".

Asked on BBC Breakfast if he was guilty of the equivalent of "copying someone's homework", he said: "It's not copying anybody's homework. All of us research things. All of us resource things. All of us learn from each other. Is that such a bad thing?

"If someone says something good and interesting and you understand and agree with it and use it as part of a persuasive argument - I think that's adult politics."

In his speech Mr Corbyn told British voters they did not have to accept that inequality and injustice are inevitable, and vowed to create a "kinder politics, a more caring society".

He also stated his commitment to "challenge austerity" and his belief in getting rid of Britain's nuclear weapons.

Writing in The Guardian, Mr Heller said Mr Corbyn was "most welcome" to use his ideas, expressing his delight that he had chosen to do so.

He said he had always been proud of the passage that "you don't have to take what you're given" - a theme which featured in Mr Corbyn's speech - saying he had "offered it regularly to every Labour leader from Neil Kinnock onwards".

While he had "many disagreements" with Mr Corbyn "I now have to admire his rhetorical judgment", he added.