Jeremy Corbyn to grace the cover of NME

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn during a General Election campaign visit to the Rivermead Leisure Centre in Reading (Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)

JEREMY CORBYN will follow in the footsteps of Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Rihanna by gracing the cover of music magazine NME.

The Labour leader revealed in an interview with the magazine that his favourite song is Imagine by John Lennon, while he listens to Classic FM and BBC Radio 3 during his evenings at home.

Mr Corbyn also told NME that he was looking at ways to help students who have accrued big debts after paying tuition fees of £9,000 a year.

Labour has pledged to abolish university tuition fees if it gets into power.

“There is a block of those that currently have a massive debt, and I’m looking at ways that we could reduce that, ameliorate that, lengthen the period of paying it off, or some other means of reducing that debt burden,” said Mr Corbyn.

“I don’t have the simple answer for it at this stage – I don’t think anybody would expect me to, because this election was called unexpectedly, we had two weeks to prepare all of this – but I’m very well aware of that problem.”

In a wide ranging interview, Mr Corbyn said the NHS “is very close to collapse” and could become “a health service of last resort”.

He added: “Those that can afford it will then buy private medicine, those that couldn’t … We’d end up as a sort of American emergency room system. I’m utterly appalled by that very prospect.”

Mr Corbyn said he particularly liked classical, folk, jazz and world music, highlighting the composer Gustav Mahler as well as singers Joan Armatrading and Joan Baez.

Asked who he preferred out of Britpop rivals Blur and Oasis, Mr Corbyn replied: “I’m going to plump for Oasis, but I know this will immediately divide the audience, so what I should have said was, ‘I’ll refer it to a focus group to decide,’ but I’m not keen on focus groups.”

Labour has repeatedly polled well among younger age groups, with NME’s own survey of 18 to 34-year-olds suggesting 41% of this age group will vote for Mr Corbyn.

The Labour leader said the party’s manifesto “offers them hope” given its pledges on tuition fees, schools and the creative industries.

“The future belongs to the youth, let’s go with it,” Mr Corbyn said.

The full interview appears in this week’s NME, which is out on Friday.