Labour MP Tristram Hunt has defended the comments he made to the Cambridge Universities Labour Club (CULC), which were initially reported in Varsity last week and have since been widely criticised in the national media.

The criticism largely focused on Hunt’s comment that “you are the top one per cent [...] It is your job and your responsibility to take leadership going forward.” The Times, ITV, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Independent, Sky News and The Sun have covered the story.

Hunt responded in The Spectator, saying that his “clear” message to Cambridge students was that “Labour has a mountain to climb if we are to recover from our defeat in May, and as the next generation of Labour activists they are absolutely central to our efforts to renew.” He added that activists “from across the country” and “all walks of life” could build a “strong, credible and forward-looking movement”.

Responding to an article by Owen Jones which levelled criticism against him, Hunt has endorsed a blog post which argues he was misrepresented, saying that “some ppl [sic] actually took the time to understand my point”. The blog post, written by Tom Wilson, the author of Varsity’s original article, calls criticism which labelled Hunt an elitist “bollocks” and highlights the way in which his comment of “it is your responsibility” was changed to “it must be your responsibility”.

Wilson argues that in doing this “you change a statement of fact, an acknowledgement that society is elitist [...] to one of endorsement. [...] Clumsy language that is easy to take out of context? Yes. Elitism? No.”

Wilson added that the claims attributed to Hunt, including that he wanted the top one per cent to take over Labour, are all “utterly fictional”.