Baroness Joan Bakewell has called Jeremy Corbyn “a child”, and said she thinks the welfare state has been “aborted” since Margaret Thatcher.
Her comments were made in an interview with the Radio Times, in which the Labour peer and broadcaster discusses her new book, Stop The Clocks: Thoughts On What I Leave Behind.
Baroness Bakewell was made a Dame by the Prince of Wales in 2008 (Johnny Green/PA)
Within her latest publication, the 82-year-old considers the issues of body, shame, politics and grief.
“I’m obviously going to die in the next 20 years, so what is my legacy?” she said. Aside from her large Primrose Hill home, she adds: “There are hundreds of books and loads of junk, but also ideas and attitudes.”
Touching on other topics within the book, she refused to be pinned down on her thoughts about the current state of the Labour Party.
Baroness Bakewell in the House of Lords in 2011 (PA)
But she joked that leader Mr Corbyn is “a child”, and added: “I didn’t vote for him, but I don’t have space in my head for nitty-gritty (party political) stuff.”
The distinguished broadcaster and president of Birkbeck, University of London, also said her biggest regret is that the welfare state has been “completely aborted since Thatcher”.
She said: “I saw the difference it made to people’s lives. Then it imploded because everybody got greedy.”
Jeremy Corbyn (BBC screenshot)
And addressing the subject of students trying to ban controversial speakers or politically contentious statues, she called it a “crisis of ideas”.
She said: “I am against hate speech, but banning things is dangerous, a step towards taking out the books and burning them.”
Baroness Bakewell with Nelson Mandela in 1980 (PA)
A member of the Fawcett Society, a campaign group pushing for equal rights for women, she also said she has seen huge political and social changes – notably in the roles of men and women.
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