Ed Miliband has described himself as a “bridge” between New Labour and Jeremy Corbyn and claimed that it is “game on” for Labour to win the next election. The former leader of the Labour party – who suffered a crushing defeat in 2015 - said that he had “recognised the need” to take the party to the left and a “more radical position”, and congratulated Mr Corbyn over his recent General Election showing.

“You have to tip your hat to Jeremy for what he did,” he said, adding: “It was more extraordinary than Trump in a way.”

Mr Miliband, who is MP for Doncaster North and was the first Jewish leader of the Labour party, continued: “Ninety nine per cent of the media said it wouldn’t happen. Ninety nine per cent of Tory MPs said it wouldn’t happen and 101 per cent of Labour MPs thought it wouldn’t happen. It was such a re-writing of the rules.”

The 47-year-old, who was speaking at the Politics Festival in London on Sunday, said that he had been in charge of a shadow cabinet which was less radical than he was, and had feared that a disunited party would work against him. He also said he had “wrestled” with his own position within Labour.

He added: “I’m a slightly interesting combination of someone who was part of New Labour but never fully confident with it, and also has a more radical edge.”

Mr Miliband, who hit the headlines last week when he presented Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 show, was complimentary about the man who replaced him as Labour leader and said that Mr Corbyn was already acting in a pragmatic way – giving his position on nuclear weapons as an example. 

“He’s been a politician forever, but he’s a sort of anti-politician,” he said, adding that “it’s not inevitable that Labour will win the next election, but it’s game on. It’s a very changed atmosphere since the election, to say the least.” 

“It’s put us in a position to win next time. There’s a lot to fight for.”

He refused to rule out re-joining the shadow cabinet but said he didn’t regret standing down as leader. “I’d had enough of it to be honest", he admitted. “Four and a half years of that job is just a bloody nightmare really. I felt I’d given everything I had.”