Jeremy Corbyn has launched a damning attack on right-wing newspapers by name warning them "change is coming".

The Labour leader hit out in a video after a string of stories claiming he knowingly met a Czech spy during the Cold War - which he denies.

Mr Corbyn has said he met a man he thought was a diplomat. But he branded claims he co-operated or was paid "smears" that were totally false.

Asked what "change is coming" meant, aides said there would be a "review into ownership of media to ensure plurality" if Mr Corbyn gets into Downing Street.

The party also intends to carry out the second phase of the Leveson Inquiry reviewing the relationship between between the police and the press.

Mr Corbyn would also raise taxes on the rich and crack down on tax-dodging, aides said.

Jeremy Corbyn named right-wing newspapers and said 'change is coming'

The Labour leader earlier flatly denied that he was a spy for communist Czechoslovakia during the Cold War.

The stories show "just how worried the media bosses are" about the pospect of a Labour government, he claimed.

In the video, Mr Corbyn says: "In the last few days, The Sun, The Mail, The Telegraph and The Express have all gone a little bit James Bond.

"They've found a former Czechoslovakian spy whose claims are increasingly wild and entirely false.

"He seems to believe I kept him informed about what Margaret Thatcher had for breakfast and says he was responsible for either Live Aid or the Mandela Concert, or maybe both.

"He seems to believe I kept him informed about what Margaret Thatcher had for breakfast," Jeremy Corbyn said (
Image:
REUTERS)

"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.

"A free press is essential for democracy and we don't want to close it down, we want to open it up. At the moment, much of our press isn't very free at all.

"In fact it's controlled by billionaire tax exiles, who are determined to dodge paying their fair share for our vital public services.

"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."

"We've got news for them: change is coming," Jeremy Corbyn said (
Image:
REUTERS)

Mr Corbyn's video did not go down universally well.

The Sun issued a statement saying it would continue to ask questions.

And Labour MP John Woodcock tweeted: "Are we really threatening the press with more regulation because they printed a story we didn’t like?

"This is not ok."