Jeremy Corbyn has reacted angrily after being repeatedly asked about his public row with Virgin Trains, and reminded the company’s boss, Sir Richard Branson, of Labour’s pledge to renationalise the railways.

Corbyn faced several questions over his account of sitting on the floor of a “ram-packed” Virgin service at an event on Wednesday to launch Labour’s health policies in London.

Behind Traingate: retracing Corbyn's trip to see reality of UK rail travel – live Read more

He repeated the explanation his allies gave on Tuesday night, saying: “I boarded a crowded train with a group of colleagues; we journeyed through the train looking for places; there wasn’t a place for all of us to sit down, and so for 40 minutes or so we remained on the floor of the train, in the vestibule.” He explained that a sympathetic train manager later found seats for him and his team, including his wife, by upgrading other passengers.

Asked again by a Sky journalist about what had been rapidly dubbed #traingate on Twitter, Corbyn initially refused to answer. “Can we have an NHS question?” he asked crossly. But he went on to say: “Yes, I did look for two empty seats together to sit with my wife, so I could talk to her.”

Corbyn added that he hoped Branson was “well aware of our policy, which is that train operating companies should become part of the public realm, not the private sector”.

Labour’s leader was drawn into a row with Virgin Trains after the rail operator disputed his account of being forced to sit on the floor of a crowded train, releasing CCTV footage of him apparently walking past free seats before the video was shot.

The Labour leader also commented on remarks by his leadership rival, Owen Smith, who appeared to suggest at a rally in Hammersmith, west London, on Tuesday night that a “lunatic” was in charge of the party. Smith said: “What you won’t have from me is some lunatic at the top of the Labour party.”

Corbyn said: “I deplore the use of that language in any context. I don’t use it myself, and I will not use it today.”



Corbyn was speaking alongside the shadow health secretary, Diane Abbott. The pair launched a series of policies, including a pledge to restore nurses’ bursaries and to attempt to buy hospitals out of costly private finance initiative contracts.

Student nurse Danielle, introducing Corbyn, said: “To take away the bursary will not only deter students, it is one of the most insulting things I have seen this government do since they came to office.”

Corbyn said: “I cannot accept that in Britain, the fifth biggest economy in the world, we do not have the resources to look after our fathers, our mothers and our grandparents.” He promised to “restore the NHS”, saying Britain was a “country of compassion”. It was unclear how the policies would be paid for – though Abbott said an increase in corporation tax could fund the restoration of nurses’ bursaries.

Smith had earlier said that despite the Traingate row, Corbyn had made an important and legitimate point, and he echoed the Labour leader’s call for the renationalisation of Britain’s railways.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about whether he believed the story given by Virgin Trains and Branson, Smith said: “Well I’m not quite sure what the Corbyn version of events is because I think it changed a couple of times yesterday, but what is clear from the footage that I have seen is that he had a seat on the train and there were seats on the train and he chose to sit on the floor for the purposes of the video.

“But I do think he was trying to make a legitimate point and trains are overcrowded and I think we should nationalise them in order to try and make sure that they serve the British people rather better.”