Candidate who helped spy get into UK

A HARD-Left Labour candidate helped a Cuban spy overturn a visa ban and visit Parliament after he was invited by Jeremy Corbyn.

Barrister Mark McDonald won a court battle to get intelligence officer Rene Gonzalez into Britain on human rights grounds after Theresa May blocked him because of his conviction in the US for espionage.

He then attended the Westminster reception for Mr Gonzalez and his spy cell leader along with Mr Corbyn, who had campaigned for their release from prison in America and joined in their legal battle.

Mr McDonald is now standing in Stoke-onTrent South after winning the backing of the Corbynite campaign group

Momentum, ahead of two prominent local hopefuls. In an article in 2016, he also dismissed widespread claims of anti-Semitism in Labour as ‘wholly without foundation’, although he admitted last night that it had since ‘become clear to me there are significant problems of anti-Semitism within the party’.

While still a backbench MP, Mr Corbyn regularly attended vigils in support of the jailed Cubans, who he finally met with the help of Mr McDonald.

The spies were part of a cell known as the ‘Wasp Network’ who were caught by the FBI in Florida while trying to infiltrate Cuban exile groups hostile to Fidel Castro. They were jailed in 2001 for espionage and their leader was also convicted of conspiracy to murder over the shooting down by the Cuban military of two planes belonging to an anti-Castro group, in which four pilots died.

The ‘Miami Five’ later had their convictions overturned and were released after more than a decade behind bars, some in a prisoner swap.

This prompted Mr Corbyn and 27 other politicians to invite them to the UK to discuss their case in 2014.

One of the spies, Mr Gonzalez, was denied an entry visa on the orders of Mrs May, then home secretary, because of his conviction for a serious crime and lengthy jail term.

Then in 2015, shortly he was elected Labour leader, Mr Corbyn joined in the challenge against the decision to bar the Cuban and the Court of Appeal ruled in his favour.

Mr McDonald acted for Mr Corbyn and other ‘intervener’ MPs in the case. After the ruling, Mr Corbyn was the lead signatory in a letter to the Cuban spies, inviting them to come to Parliament in July 2016.

The Labour leader chose to attend the Commons reception for Mr Gonzalez and cell leader Gerardo Hernandez instead of addressing his MPs on a day when he faced a leadership challenge and Mrs May had become prime minister.

Mr McDonald said last night: ‘With reference to the Miami Five, I was instructed in my professional capacity as a barrister by a group of 21 MPs to challenge the home secretary’s unlawful ruling.’