corbyn
© Reuters / Neil HallLabour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks to journalists outside BBC headquarters in London
One of Britain's leading barristers has claimed that a senior BBC journalist has told him that the public broadcaster has indulged in showing "coded negative imagery" of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn since his election in 2015.

Jolyon Maugham QC, director of the Good Law Project, a group which recently helped win the case in the EU courts for the UK to unilaterally stop Brexit if they wish to do so, took to social media to post the alleged evidence of bias against Corbyn.

Maugham, who originally made the claims in March this year, said that he was making messages between himself and a senior BBC journalist public after being 'trolled' by Rob Burley, editor of the BBC's live political programmes, about the issue.

Jolyon Maugham QC
© Reuters / Clodagh KilcoyneJolyon Maugham QC
The unverified texts show the BBC journalist describe Corbyn as a "stupid man" who is not up to the job of leading the Labour Party because it's too complex a role for him.

Revealingly, the journo goes on to say that he's an "old man" with many deficiencies which can't be written out plainly so they're "all transmitted in code." Some of the visuals the BBC transmit "screams OLD MAN OLD MAN OLD MAN," he added.

Maugham, who freely admits that he's a frequent critic of the Labour leader, particularly on the issue of Brexit, insists he won't personally name the journalist in question. He is willing, however, to get a senior lawyer with the agreement of the BBC's Burley, to certify that the journalist in question is an important figure within 'news' at the public broadcaster.

The lawyer claims he's still waiting to hear back from Burley.

It comes after Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan ordered an inquiry after the Daily Record newspaper leaked documents at the weekend showing anti-Corbyn propaganda being promoted by the Institute for Statecraft, a charity which has received £2 million in government funding.