Special Branch kept tabs on ‘subversive’ Corbyn
JEREMY CORBYN was monitored by undercover special branch officers for two decades amid fears that he was attempting to undermine democracy, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. A former special branch officer, who does not wish to be named, said the Labour leader was monitored as he was “deemed to be a subversive”.
Special Branch defines subversion as consisting of “activities intended to undermine or overthrow parliamentary democracy by political, industrial or violent means”.
Mr Corbyn would have come under the “undermine” category; anyone in the “overthrow” classification would have been arrested immediately. At least six special branch commanders over the course of 20 years considered Mr Corbyn such a threat that they all approved keeping his file open, according to the source.
Diane Abbott also had a file open on her during the period in the same “subversive” category, the source confirmed.
It is unclear exactly what actions or associations seemed “subversive”, but the source said it was not because of Mr Corbyn’s alleged sympathies with Irish republicans.
It is possible that officers may have been investigating his links to extremist groups. It emerged yesterday that Mr Corbyn gave a speech at a rally attended by around 300 members of the nowproscribed extremist group Al-muhajiroun, some of whom were dressed as suicide bombers.
A detailed account in a Leftwing newspaper Weekly Worker described how the noisy group was disruptive and “hurled abuse” at a speaker from an Israeli peace group on the platform during the event in 2002. Radicals of
organisations such as Al-muhajiroun held placards reading, “Palestine is Muslim” and chanted, “Scud, scud Israel” and “Gas, gas Tel Aviv” , and made clear their support for Osama bin Laden. It is not known if, or when, the file on Mr Corbyn was destroyed, but it is understood that investigations by Scotland Yard’s elite unit was ongoing until the early 2000s.
The source told The Daily Telegraph that the decision to open an investigation was taken by a Special Branch commander. “You cannot have a Special Branch file just randomly, the commander had to have evidence that they were satisfied with,” they said.
They said that the investigation lasted more than two decades, and would have been signed off by several commanders over that period. “Every single commander would have had to agree with that or the file would have been destroyed”.
The disclosure may raise further concerns about some of Mr Corbyn’s associations, as well as tactics used by undercover officers in the last 30 years.
Last month, The Daily Telegraph revealed how MI5 opened a file on Mr Corbyn amid concerns over his links to the IRA.
The Labour leader was investigated over fears that he could have been a threat to national security at a time when he was supporting convicted terrorists and campaigning for a unified Ireland.
During his time as a backbench MP, Mr Corbyn has been criticised for links to some groups and controversial remarks he has made, including describing Hamas and Hizbollah as “friends”.
However, last year he said that he regretted describing the groups in these terms. A Labour spokesman said: “The security services kept files on many peace and labour movement campaigners at the time, including antiapartheid activists and trade unionists.
“The Pitchford inquiry [into undercover policing] is currently investigating how the security services carried out surveillance of political figures such as former foreign secretary Jack Straw, former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain and Jeremy Corbyn.”
Commenting on the 2002 rally, the Labour spokesman said that Mr Corbyn had “addressed a broad-based rally in support of Palestinian rights” and he was in “no way responsible for the views of all of the thousands of attendees. Jeremy condemns Al-muhajiroun in the strongest possible terms”.
The Metropolitan Police did not respond to requests for comment.