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Labour members were left baffled after going to a 'Jeremy Corbyn' talk that was actually hosted by a cardboard box.

The bizarre mix-up happened yesterday at Lancaster University after the Labour leader's supposed visit was advertised by a fine art student.

Her exercise in "object oriented ontology" backfired - when local Labour activists turned up to a major lecture hall hoping to see the left-winger speak.

Instead they were treated an art installation in the form of a box with the Labour leader's name on it.

Furious Lancaster MP Cat Smith, a key Corbyn ally, reported the student to her head of department as she began receiving confused phone calls from activists ahead of the event.

She told the Mirror: "People turned up at the event, Labour supporters and party members.

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(Image: Twitter/Cat Smith)

"They paid for parking and childcare, time off work, incurred an expense for an event that wasn't happening."

Students familiar with the event insisted just a handful of people turned up, and any claims it caused a massive inconvenience were blown out of proportion.

The MP said she didn't know exactly how many people attended but added: "It looks like dozens of people turned up expecting to see Jeremy Corbyn and he wasn't there.

"My frustration is I've got Jeremy coming to give a lecture at Lancaster in the autumn and I want people to turn up. I now worry people are going to see that and think it's a hoax."

Ms Smith also notified the university's Vice Chancellor to avoid a stand-off after being told the activists were turning up.

And she confronted the student on Twitter, saying: "I don't appreciate having to spend time having to deal with this & neither do party staff.

(Image: Rex)

"Take the event down now. It's deception, a breach of ethics and taking up my time."

Asked if she was over-reacting, Ms Smith told the Mirror: "When people are paying money for childcare, parking and travel they're incurring costs.

"So what's the joke? It's not very funny when people are struggling. That's a serious issue.

"I don't want the student to be punished - I just want her to know it's not an appropriate thing to do."

The student behind the art installation declined to comment to the Mirror before this article was published.

She later said: "I turned down the opportunity to comment as I didn't want to draw any more attention to it (now I wish I had).

"The project didn't backfire, it was a fake event intended to be discovered as a hoax. I was present in the room for a long while and only two people turned up in that duration, I don't know about the rest of the time.

"The article is also missing half the idea behind the artwork - it was intended to bring about radical expression through the element of play. That isn't to say that I was trying to pull some sick kind of prank or I was just trying to annoy people.

"Live long and prosper."

A Lancaster University spokesman said: "We are working on the matter internally."