Britain’s peaceniks and hard Left targeted by Czech agent

COMMUNIST spies targeted Left-wing activists around Jeremy Corbyn’s political circle to try to extract UK secrets.

Campaigners fighting for nuclear disarmament and arms control were highly prized by agents from behind the Iron Curtain.

Former Czech spy Jan Sarkocy, who met Mr Corbyn, targeted at least five others who served as Labour MPs.

They included former Edinburgh Leith MP Ron Brown, known as ‘Red Ron’, as well as Bruce George, Harry Cohen and Andy Love. Another was Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, a former defence secretary – who went on to serve as Nato secretary-general.

Posing as a diplomat, Mr Sarkocy recorded how politically ambitious individuals, brilliant academics and campaigners of conscience could be recruited. A 27-page document written after he was thrown out of Britain in 1989 listed his network of 128 sources.

For his compatriots desperate to undermine Western democracies, the directory was viewed as a potential goldmine of leads.

Ultimately, they hoped that by fuelling the cause of peace and disarmament at the peak of the Cold War they could weaken the West’s military strength.

But many of those listed by Mr Sarkocy were completely unsympathetic to the beliefs of the hard Left. Among these were military advisors, those on the political Right, including advisors to the Tory Government, curious journalists and even a captain of industry.

Critics claim his reports were embellished to justify his costly posting to one of Europe’s most expensive cities.