He defends free Press, then sidesteps difficult questions

JEREMY Corbyn yesterday gave an impassioned speech about media freedom – but repeatedly dodged questions himself.

The Labour leader said that journalists should have more power to hold the government and corporations to account, without being ‘ held back’ by wealthy media barons.

‘At their best, journalists challenge unaccountable power and expose things that the rich and powerful would rather keep hidden,’ he said.

But, in the same breath, Mr Corbyn repeatedly refused to give straight answers to journalists’ questions. He twice refused to say whether he thinks Britain will be better off outside the EU.

Asked by a newspaper journalist to give a ‘straight answer’ and say whether Brexit would be good for Britain, he said: ‘This has become a new game’. When pressed, he sidestepped the question again. ‘ My answer is what I want to achieve for this country to make sure people are better off,’ he said. In a farcical session at the Edinburgh Television Festival, he also refused to admit that anti-Semitism is rife in his party.

He insisted he had devoted his life to fighting racism, and that the Labour Party is determined to oppose ‘anti-semitism in any form’ .

Mr Corbyn also accused the Press of running stories about him which he considers ‘grotesquely unfair or deeply inaccurate’, but stopped short of naming examples.

In recent weeks, this newspaper exposed how the Labour leader had laid a wreath in a Tunis cemetery where the ringleaders of the 1972 Munich Olympics terror massacre are buried.

This week, the Mail revealed he had also welcomed Hamas-linked extremists to Parliament.