LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn has responded angrily to a witch-hunt launched by Murdoch’s Sun, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph and the Daily Mail which claimed he passed information to former Czech spy Jan Sarkocy in the 1980s. A spokesperson for Corbyn said: ‘As Svetlana Ptacnikova, director of the Czech security forces archive, has made clear, Jeremy was neither an agent, asset, informer nor collaborator with Czechoslovak intelligence. These claims are a ridiculous smear and entirely false.
‘The former Czechoslovak agent Jan Sarkocy’s account of his meeting with Jeremy was false 30 years ago, is false now and has no credibility whatsoever. His story has more plot holes in it than a bad James Bond movie.’ The Sunday Telegraph said Sarkocy claimed Jeremy Corbyn, Ken Livingstone and John McDonnell were part of a group of at least 10 to 15 Labour MPs who shared information with KGB and Eastern bloc agents.
A spokesman for McDonnell told the paper: ‘These are ridiculous and false allegations. John never met any Czechoslovak or Soviet agent or visited the Soviet or Russian embassy and has only visited Guildford once in his life, which was for a Labour Party public meeting.’ Ex-London mayor Livingstone dismissed the spy’s claims as ‘a tissue of lies’.
• Yesterday’s Observer was also claiming Corbyn ‘has come under intense pressure to shift Labour’s position on Brexit after 20,000 members demanded a say over the issue and former leader Neil Kinnock backed halting Britain’s EU exit altogether. It is understood that the Labour leader will also be confronted by some in his shadow cabinet this week who want him to back remaining in the single market and customs union.
Speaking to the Observer, Kinnock said he had been angered by claims from Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, that the NHS should benefit from the money saved by leaving the European Union.
He said the reality was that ‘we should stop Brexit to save the NHS’ or at the very least ‘mitigate the damage’ by staying within the single market.’ In fact Kinnock and family did very well out of the EU.
Neil and Glenys Kinnock received more than £10million in pay, allowances and pension entitlements during their time working at the European Union in Brussels.
Lady Kinnock, who was appointed Europe Minister was an MEP for 15 years. Her husband, who failed to win a General Election as Labour leader, was an EU Commissioner for ten years until 2004. Neil Kinnock will enjoy a lavish retirement thanks to his EU payments.
Their generous package of salary and perks included:
A total of £775,000 in wages for Lady Kinnock and £1.85 million for her husband, adding up to £2,625,000. Allowances for Lady Kinnock’s staff and office costs of £2.9million.
A £64,564 ‘entertainment allowance’ for Lord Kinnock. A total of five publicly-funded pensions, worth £4.4million, allowing them to retire on £183,000 a year.
A housing allowance that allowed them both to claim accommodation costs although, as a married couple, they lived in the same house in the Belgian capital between 1995 and 2004.
