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There isn't actually a 'Stasi file' on Jeremy Corbyn, the organisation that keeps Stasi records announced today.

The statement is an awkward blow for people - including Theresa May - who have spent days calling for the Labour leader to release contact he had with the former East German secret police.

It comes after Czech archives revealed Mr Corbyn met a spy from the then-Communist state in the House of Commons.

Mr Corbyn says he believed the man was a diplomat, and claims he ever knowingly met a spy were a "smear".

But he faced criticism from media outlets and Tory politicians, who said he should also release files on him held by the Stasi.

The infamous former East German intelligence service normally has a policy of releasing information only if the subject gives permission.

Today, however, the Stasi archives issue a public statement saying it could not find any records at all on Mr Corbyn - or Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott.

Dagmar Hovestaedt, a spokeswoman for the Federal Commission for the Stasi Records, said: "Currently there is a debate in Great Britain about a possible documentation of activities of the Labour politician Jeremy Corbyn in the Stasi records.

"The Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records (BStU) usually only releases information with connection to a person when records document an official or unofficial collaboration with the Ministry of State Security.

"Otherwise there is no further disclosure.

"But because speculation have risen because of this policy in the case of Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott, the BStU for this case makes the following statement.

(Image: PA)

"The most recent researches in the written records of the Ministry for State Security of East Germany have not produced any records or any other information on Jeremy Corbyn or Diane Abbott."

Earlier this week Theresa May said Mr Corbyn should be "open and transparent" when asked if he should release his Stasi file.

Today a journalist from the Guido Fawkes blog tried to give Mr Corbyn's spokesman a consent form, ready to sign.

The blog published a Stasi file appearing to show Labour Action for Peace, with which Mr Corbyn was involved, was infiltrated by East German spies in the 1980s.

Mr Corbyn went on to be Labour Action for Peace's President.

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The Stasi report is said to have concluded: “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.”

Mr Corbyn, who was given the codename “COB”, admitted meeting Czech national Jan Sarkocy.

But the Labour leader insisted he believed Mr Sarkocy, who was booted out of the UK in 1989, was a diplomat.

Today Mr Corbyn's spokesman rubbished a suggestion the MP met a Czech spy in London on October 24, 1987.

He was at a socialist conference in Chesterfield on that day – and his mother died the day before, the spokesman said.

Earlier today Mr Corbyn's lawyers demanded an apology and charity donation from Ben Bradley, a Tory MP who claimed he "sold British secrets to communist spies".

Another Tory MP, Steve Baker, refused to defend the smears in a car crash TV interview with the BBC.

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Mrs May joked about the row in the House of Commons, saying "I know he like Czechs" - to which Mr Corbyn simply yawned.

The Labour last night threatened right-wing newspapers by name and used the row to warn of new press regulation, saying: "Change is coming".

And today Mr Corbyn's spokesman suggested the "ludicrous" reporting could inspire right-wing terrorists to try and kill him.