Jeremy Corbyn warns Britain's free press 'change is coming' 

Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at the press in response to claims he passed information to the Czech Communist regime in the Eighties

 Jeremy Corbyn has warned the media that “change is coming” if he becomes prime minister as he described disclosures about his meetings with a Communist spy as “lies and smears”.

The Labour leader suggested newspapers including the Telegraph had investigated his links to former Czechoslovakian agent Jan Sarkocy because they are “worried” by the prospect of a Labour government.

But Conservative MPs accused him of wanting to “muzzle” the press, which had investigated “a matter of public interest”.

Mr Corbyn was challenged about the allegations by a journalist during a question and answer session at the EEF manufacturers’ conference in London on Tuesday afternoon after he had delivered a keynote speech and described the claims as “nonsense”.

However, he then launched an attack on the press in a video message posted on his official Twitter feed shortly after 6pm.

Robert Peston, the ITV political editor, questioned why Mr Corbyn had avoided answering questions over the claims since they first emerged, as he said: “If he really wanted to challenge them, why isn’t he doing TV interviews on it, given our impartiality?”

In the message Mr Corbyn claimed newspapers like The Telegraph had “all gone a little bit James Bond” as he claimed the remarks made by Mr Sarkocy were “increasingly wild and entirely false”.

Meanwhile, appearing on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Barry Gardiner, Labour's shadow international trade secretary, defended Mr Corbyn's decision to meet Mr Sarkocy.

Mr Gardner claimed that most MPs assumed that "half of the people we meet from foreign embassies are spies" adding that "it doesn't mean you are not a patriot". 

"It doesn’t mean that you do not do your job and stand up for this country," he continued. 

"But equally, of course you meet with diplomats from across the world."

Mr Corbyn, who was given the codename “Cob” by the Czechoslovakian secret service the StB, has admitted meeting Mr Sarkocy in the 1980s but has denied knowing he was a spy, passing sensitive information to him or accepting any payment.

Mr Sarkocy has claimed he met Mr Corbyn several times, which Mr Corbyn has described as “ridiculous”.

Mr Corbyn said on Tuesday: “It’s easy to laugh, but something more serious is happening. Publishing these ridiculous smears that have been refuted by Czech officials shows just how worried the media bosses are by the prospect of a Labour government.

“They’re right to be. Labour will stand up to the powerful and corrupt - and take the side of the many, not the few.”

Mr Corbyn insisted that he believed a free press was “essential for democracy” and that Labour did not want to “close it down”.

He added: “The general election showed the media barons are losing their influence and social media means their bad old habits are becoming less and less relevant.

“But instead of learning these lessons they're continuing to resort to lies and smears. Their readers - you, all of us - deserve so much better.

“Well, we’ve got news for them: change is coming.”

Mr Corbyn’s comments sparked concerns about what a Labour government could mean for the future of the press.

John Whittingdale, the Conservative former culture secretary, said: "Any government intervention into what the press can and cannot write is very dangerous and whatever you think of the story about Jeremy Corbyn's past links with Czech diplomats that is a matter of public interest.

"There are many ways he could rebut the accusations, there are the laws of libel.

"The answer if you do not like political stories is not to try to muzzle the press and down that road lies dictatorship."

Meanwhile, Philip Davies, the Tory MP for Shipley, echoed a similar sentiment and said: "You don't need to restrict the freedom of the press when laws are already in place to stop people being libeled.

"This is what people can look forward to if we get a Marxist government. They take out any dissent.

"It all goes the same way in the end and he is simply following the path of a Marxist government."

Mr Corbyn’s intervention comes after Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said he must be "open and transparent" about his links to former Communist spies.

He is also under pressure to allow the release of a Stasi file which was reportedly opened when he visited East Germany in the Seventies.

Mr Corbyn, who was given the codename “Cob” by the Czechoslovakian secret service the StB, has admitted meeting Mr Sarkocy in the 1980s but has denied knowing he was a spy, passing sensitive information to him or accepting any payment.

Mr Sarkocy has claimed he met Mr Corbyn several times, which Mr Corbyn has described as “ridiculous”.

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