corbyn disarmament protest
Despite decades of campaigning against them, Jeremy Corbyn is facing accusations from Remainers of being in bed with the far-right. The claim was made against the Labour leader after he gave a speech on the "benefits of Brexit."

Setting out his vision for a post-Brexit Britain, Corbyn called for public contracts to be given to British companies while attacking the government for failing exporters following the referendum. The policies were criticized for being protectionist, even though similar policies exist in France and Germany.

A passage of the speech was picked up and paraphrased by the Leave.eu Twitter feed.

Leave.eu's extract of Corbyn's speech was accused of being misleading because it cut out sections where the Labour Leader attacks US President Donald Trump and Tory austerity.



Despite the accusations and Corbyn's speech being available online, Observer and Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr picked up on the tweet, posting: "The men who love Putin also love Corbyn."

The journalist, best-known for her reports on Cambridge Analytica and the impact of big data on the Brexit referendum, followed by posting:


Other Remainers, many of whom have the FBPE (follow back, Pro-European Union) acronym on their Twitter bio, were piling on the Labour leader. A Jo Maugham QC tweet, which read, "the far right loves @jeremycorbyn," was liked 648 times at the time of publication.

No sooner had the attacks began than Corbyn's supporters pointed out that he had not only been the target of a far-right assassination plot, but also had spent years as an anti-racism activist. Some journalists and academics used the opportunity to clarify Corbyn's point in context, while others bemoaned the state of journalism and the reliance on spin.