Corbyn v the Press

There is something deeply disturbing about the leader of a major political party in this country telling the British journalistic industry – one of the most vibrant and free in the world, and an essential guard against complacency and corruption – that “change is coming”. For those who still dismiss Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn as a harmless old fool, his message yesterday ought to serve as a wake-up call.

Mr Corbyn is facing questions over meetings with a Czech spy during the Cold War. It is not in doubt that these meetings took place, or that a Stasi dossier exists to this day that could confirm details of any assistance he may have provided to brutal regimes which, as allies of the Soviet Union, were adversaries of postwar Britain. He could have addressed these questions with straightforward interviews with broadcasters or newspapers of his choice. He could also have elected to open up his file in the Stasi archives. Instead, in a video produced by Labour’s own propaganda department, he has decided to round on newspapers asking perfectly legitimate questions.

Quite frankly, it is rather creepy. Mr Corbyn seems to imply, in the manner of an oldschool Soviet stooge, that the whole episode is a Right-wing plot. Instead of addressing the substance of the allegations, he goes on the attack. With a closing rictus, he promises newspapers, including this one, that we will be forced to change our “bad old habits” under a Labour government. If he means asking inconvenient questions of those in power, without fear or favour, we will never do so voluntarily. Does he mean to use force? Such implicit compulsion is worthy of a leader in Moscow, not London.