Jeremy Corbyn fires back at Morgan Stanley: ‘You’re right, we are a threat’

Jeremy Corbyn.Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

• Jeremy Corbyn is feuding with investment bank Morgan Stanley.
• It told investors his election could be a bigger risk to their interests than Brexit.
• Corbyn has fired back, saying Labour is a threat to Morgan Stanley and the “speculators and gamblers who crashed our economy in 2008.”

Jeremy Corbyn has attacked Morgan Stanley after it warned investors his election would be a “bigger risk than Brexit,” telling the investment bank: “You’re right, we are a threat.”

In a video posted on his social media accounts on Wednesday, the Labour leader criticised the bank for its role in the 2008 financial crisis, labelling it as one of the “speculators and gamblers who crashed our economy … their greed plunged the world into crisis and we’re still paying the price.”

He went on: “Nurses, teachers, shopworkers, builders, just about everyone is finding it harder to get by, while Morgan Stanley’s CEO paid himself £21.5 million last year and UK banks paid out £15 billion in bonuses.”

“Labour is a growing movement of well over half a million members and a government-in-waiting that will work for the many. So when they say we’re a threat, they’re right. We’re a threat to a damaging and failed system that’s rigged for the few.”

Earlier this week, Morgan Stanley told investors in a report that Corbyn’s leftwing politics could be an even bigger threat to their interests than leaving the European Union. “For the UK market, domestic politics may be perceived as a bigger risk than Brexit,” it said.

“From a UK investor perspective, we believe that the domestic political situation is at least as significant as Brexit, given the fragile state of the current government and the perceived risks of an incoming Labour administration that could potentially embark on a radical change in policy direction.”

In response that will do little to soothe anxieties in the British financial sector about a potential leftwing Labour government, Corbyn said: “Bankers like Morgan Stanley should not run our country but they think they do because the party they fund and protects their interest, the Conservative Party, is in Downing Street. They want to keep the Tories there because their rigged economy and their tax cuts for the richest work for them.”

He accuses Morgan Stanley of playing a role in the financial crisis — and argues their support for the Tories has enabled “deeply damaging” austerity measures.

Here’s Jeremy Corbyn’s full response: