JEREMY CORBYN has come under the attack from the UK media after they claimed that he was contacted by now former Czech Spy, Ján Sarkozy, who further claimed that he was spying on Britain on behalf of the soviet union. Theresa May encouraged Corbyn to release the file that is claimed to contain the evidence for the suggested meetings with Soviet spies during the Cold War. The files revolve around meetings with Ján Sarkozy, who was working in the Czech embassy at the time.

Ben Bradley showed his colours when he parroted the same accusations on twitter at another user, Corbyn instructed his lawyers to get Mr Bradley to remove the libellous claim from Twitter and subsequently, the tweet has now been deleted

Fake news or not?

If you look further into the details of the claims then they begin to unravel quickly, firstly, the file claims that Corbyn was registered as a contact and on the payroll of the defunct security services, the StB.

The claim was very quickly denied by him. The claims are debunked further when the head of the Czech Security Forces archive categorically stated that he was never on their payroll. The Czech PM has described Ján Sarkozy as untrustworthy and questioned why their media considers him a relevant and reliable source. This is where we step into the realms of absurdity.

During an interview on Czech TV he made claims that he was instrumental in a political rock concert at Wembley, he said, “We finally made a concert in Wembley. It was funded by Czechoslovakia.” When pressed on whether he was talking about Live Aid he simply said, “I did that”. However, he was more likely referring to the 1988 concert for Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday as he claimed that he made contact to Mandela through Corbyn.

There is one issue with many of these claims, there is absolutely no link to Czech funding for any of the concerts mentioned.

Further to the point of Corbyn denying being a spy, he has admitted to meeting with Ján Sarkozy in 1984, when he was fresh into his career as a politician after being elected just a year earlier. With Sarkozy a low-level intelligence gatherer in the Soviet, exaggerating any conversation was hugely beneficial because it meant he could keep his high pay and large expense account.

But he isn’t the only politician to have met with a spy without knowing, it’s kind of their job to not be found out as a spy.

Boris Johnson was described by Sergey Nalobin as a ‘good friend’, who works for the Russian embassy and is suspected of being a spy within the programme that is meant to deepen Russia’s relationship with Conservative MPs.

When Ukrainian PM, Volodymyr Groysman, was welcomed to Downing Street by Theresa May, he brought along his translator, Stanislav Yezhov, who was detained after suspicions were raised that he was sending information to the Kremlin.

Propaganda to discredit a credible opposition

The only reason reports like this get any traction is because they are designed to be slightly absurd, to be believable because sometimes life can be more ridiculous than any drama on TV or in a book. But it’s plainly obviously a lie, why on Sarkozy’s part, I do not know, he’s not exactly respected in the Czech Republic. Nonetheless, the Conservatives have a significant amount to gain from the slur getting any traction. Ironically, Theresa May also announced recently that she was setting up a government department to tackle fake news yet has immediately jumped on the bandwagon of this falsehood.

This is the problem with the political system and media, the latter has too much of a vested interest in who is in Downing Street because the big media outlets use tax havens. Politicians are meant to be public servants but continually peddle these kinds of slurs to suit their own personal aims, people like Ben Bradley should be stepping out of the party politics and saying that this lie is wrong but he won’t because he represents exactly what the Conservatives are trying to do and peddle lies and propaganda so the public continue to vote them into power and eventually they can begin to slowly chip away at the rights and democratic processes we rely on as a population and a nation.