Stasi kept 'top secret' files on Labour group which Jeremy Corbyn helped to run

Jeremy Corbyn
Questions: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn faces intense pressure over his links to former Czechoslovakian agent Jan Sarkocy Credit: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

East Germany’s secret police kept “top secret” files on a Labour group which Jeremy Corbyn helped to run, it has emerged.

The Stasi reportedly took a keen interest in the Labour Action for Peace (LAP) group in the 1980s.

Mr Corbyn was reportedly an officer of the LAP in the eighties and went on to serve as vice chairman before becoming president.

The Stasi believed the activity of the LAP to be of “special importance” and that the group could play a role in influencing the formulation of official Labour Party policy.

The emergence of the files, published by the Guido Fawkes website, comes as Mr Corbyn faces intense pressure over his links to former Czechoslovakian agent Jan Sarkocy.

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.

Jeremy Corbyn
'Special importance': Leaked 1980s documents show that East German officials believed the Labour Action for Peace could play a role in influencing party policy Credit: Dan Kitwood /Getty Images Europe

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

Today during PMQs, Theresa May joked about the Labour leader's alleged communications with the Cold War spy, claims which have been strongly denied by Mr Corbyn and his party. 

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

The extracts of the Stasi documents published by Guido Fawkes suggest that East German officials monitored the LAP in the 1980s and believed the group’s position on NATO coincided with its own stance.

The files said: “The position of leading representatives of the LAP coincides with that of the socialist countries: The blame for the escalation of the nuclear arms race is borne by the US and its NATO allies.”

The records reportedly show that East German officials met MP members of the group.

Following an LAP delegation’s visit to East Germany a Stasi officer said in a report that “representatives of the LAP take up positions on fundamental issues that are largely in line with those of the socialist states”.

The Stasi appeared to believe that the LAP could influence Labour policy.

The files said: “Under the present conditions, with resolutions at the Labour Party’s annual conference from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3 preparing for the upcoming election campaign and focusing on the party’s security policy and a future Labour government, the Activity of the LAP of special importance.”

It is not the first time that the LAP group has been linked to allegations of spying for the Soviet Union.

Cynthia Roberts, who ran the group and stood as a Labour Parliamentary candidate, allegedly spied for the Czech Government when the country was controlled by the USSR.

In 2008 it emerged that files, held by the Czech security service, claimed that she wrote secret dossiers for the communist regime on Tory politicians including Margaret Thatcher and ex-Cabinet Minister David Mellor after moving to Prague in 1985.

Mr Corbyn, who was president of LAP in 2008, said at the time: "I don't know Cynthia Roberts at all. Of course I'm surprised. I didn't know her and this was long before I was involved in the organisation. I'm not going to be able to comment on people like Cynthia Roberts. The issue of the Cold War is one that has long passed."

Ms Roberts denied being a spy.

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