Mail Corbyn Collaboration Hypocrisy

The ludicrous and totally untrue suggestion that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was some kind of asset for the Czech security forces at the end of the Cold War is still being presented as fact by the Murdoch Sun and the increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph this morning. But standing out once more is the sheer brass neck exhibited by the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre and his obedient hackery at the Daily Mail.

Who f***ing says I can't piss my c***ing credibility up the f***ing wall, c***?!?!?

“CORBYN ‘THE COLLABORATOR’” thunders the front page headline, with the supporting article claiming “Jeremy Corbyn was a paid informant of the Czech secret police at the height of the Cold War, a former Communist secret agent claims … Former spy Jan Sarkocy said he recruited the MP, codenamed Cob, in the 1980s … Mr Corbyn was an ‘asset’ who knew he was working with the Soviet puppet state, Mr Sarkocy claimed”.

The claims serve only to confirm that Jan Sarkocy lied for money in the late 1980s, and he is totally consistent in this today. The mountain of evidence in rebuttal of those lies is becoming rather obvious, with Politico reporting yesterday “Jeremy Corbyn was not a collaborator with the communist-era secret service in Czechoslovakia, Czech media reported Friday, rebuking a story in the British press claiming that he met with a spy from that country in London”. The press’ expert witness has not fared well, either.

As Political Scrapbook has noted, “Hayden Peake, the curator of the CIA’s ‘historical intelligence collection’, said parts of [Anthony Glees’] book are ‘unintelligible’ and evidence to support some of his claims was missing”. Glees smeared John Roper as a spy. Roper was later made a Privy Counsellor. Spies don’t get on to the Privy Counsel. Glees is bust.

It gets worse: Corbyn supported a 1989 Early Day Motion backing workers in the then Czechoslovakia against “the corruption and mismanagement of the Stalinist bureaucracy”. Not exactly the actions of a “collaborator”. Former Guardian reporter David Leigh, who has some experience in this field, said simply “Anyone who knows anything about cold war Czech intel ops in London knows this 'story' is total tosh. Me, I'd sue”.

The Daily Mail demonstrates its opposition to collaboration with enemy régines

And remember that Privy Council mention? As David Clarke put it, “If there was even a serious hint of Corbyn colluding with the spy of a Communist State during the Cold war he would have been allowed nowhere near the Privy council. The very fact that he is a totally Vetted member of the Privy council shows the whole story to be complete bunk”.

Then, of course, we have to consider that the Mail is the last paper to call “Collaborator” on anyone else. This was the paper, after all, which shilled shamelessly for the Third Reich throughout the 1930s. Its owner sought out meetings with Adolf Hitler, routinely promoted the régime’s achievements, and parroted its disgusting anti-Semitism.

The Daily Mail knows all about collaborators. From promoting the Blackshirts, to happily letting readers know how many Jews were being removed from public office, to applauding Hitler’s desire for a Greater Germany, to decrying the arrival in Britain of Jewish refugees from the Nazi régime, the paper was in lockstep with German fascism.

This is shamefully deficient propagandising masquerading as journalism. Worse, it is so obviously untrue that it disgraces the profession that created it. No change there, then.