Black propaganda more suited to the Kremlin

DEEPLY disturbing allegations have been made that the Foreign Office has been involved in a smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn. If true, this would be a betrayal of the principles of decency and fair play which have been the bedrock of British politics for years.

A report in the Scottish newspaper the Sunday Mail has claimed that leaked documents show that an organisation called the Institute for Statecraft tried to promote tweets calling the Labour leader a ‘useful idiot’ who has helped Russia.

The newspaper said that the Fife-based body has received hundreds of thousands of pounds in Foreign Office money.

It cannot be stated too strongly that the task of British diplomats is to represent this country’s interests overseas — not to meddle in our domestic politics. Such is the behaviour of dictatorships. Something similar happened in the Seventies when a group of dissident intelligence officers waged a propaganda war against Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, making false allegations that he was a Soviet agent.

It is a matter of priority that the Foreign Office’s investigation into these claims about the treatment of Jeremy Corbyn is followed through without fear or favour.