Owen Smith says Labour might have won the election under his leadership

The shadow Northern Ireland secretary backed Jeremy Corbyn, however

Former Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith (File photo) (Getty)

Labour might have won last month’s general election had it chosen Owen Smith as leader, Owen Smith has said.

The shadow Northern Ireland secretary, who lost to Jeremy Corbyn in a leadership contest last year, said it was impossible to know what would have happened but appeared confident in his own abilities.

Asked on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge programme whether the party would have done as well under his leadership, Mr Smith said: “I don’t know. I hope so. I hope I might have even got us to win – but I can’t know that, Sophy.”

The newly-returned shadow cabinet minister however said that his party leader’s position was not under threat and that he had been “clearly wrong” about Mr Corbyn’s abilities as a leader.

“I think Jeremy has clearly galvanised young people in this country, we’ve seen that not just in the election but since,” Mr Smith added.

“I met people in the election who hadn’t voted ever – certainly people who hadn’t voted for a long while – who felt that Jeremy was speaking to and for them and that Labour was speaking to and for them.

“I don’t think any of us can argue with that and therefore I think he’s earned the right to try and get Labour into power and earned the right to be our next prime minister.”

Mr Smith has returned to the shadow cabinet under Mr Corbyn to handle the issue of Northern Ireland, where powersharing talks have repeatedly failed to produce a new executive.

The former leadership candidate’s return to the front bench has been seen as a sign of the parliamentary Labour party rallying around Jeremy Corbyn – though Mr Corbyn last week sacked three frontbenchers for defying the whip on a Brexit vote.