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Jeremy Corbyn called for former US President Ronald Reagan to cancel a “disgraceful” planned visit to a German Military Cemetery at Bitburg in 1985, on the grounds that it contained the graves of 49 Nazi SS officers.

The visit, which was organised in the spirit of reconciliation between the US and Germany, involved Reagan honouring the German dead from the Second World War with a wreath.

While there was no suggestion that Reagan would be anywhere near Stormtrooper graves, their very presence, Corbyn argued, would cause “offence.”

In an early-day motion on May 2, 1985, Corbyn — then a backbench MP — condemned the official engagement as an “offence to the memories of Jews and so many others persecuted and murdered by the Nazis,” and described it as “insensitive and ill-advised”.

He asked the Conservative government at the time to urge Reagan “in the name of good relations between our countries and between all the allies in the war against Nazism to cancel that visit.” The early-day motion stated: “This House believes there can never be any reconciliation with fascism...”

The motion was signed by “a large number of Members”. Reagan went ahead with the visit on May 5, 1985, but to acknowledge the outcry, particularly from Holocaust survivors, he went first to commemorate the 50,000 murdered at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, among them Anne Frank. Reagan laid wreaths at both sites — at Bitburg it was at the base of a memorial tower.

There are interesting echoes in this week’s revelation that Corbyn laid a wreath in a cemetery in Tunis which houses the graves of members of Black September, the Palestinian terrorist organisation responsible for the murder of 11 athletes and a West German police officer at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Corbyn argued that his visit was made in the spirit of peace and reconciliation. “You cannot pursue peace by a cycle of violence. The only way you pursue peace is a cycle of dialogue.”

Play fare, cry C2’s stranded liberals

First they killed the “Sloane Ranger Express” (the 22), now TfL threatens north London media’s C2 bus, which wends from Parliament Hill through Camden to the BBC. “Hands off the C2!” shouts Alan Rusbridger. “I leave Kentish Town for a holiday and this happens,” wails Polly Curtis of the Huff Post. “I’ll be manning the barricades,” enjoins BBC Politics’ Nick Eardley. Giles Coren called the C2 “a marvellous descriptor of the socio-economic class of the people compelled to use it”. This morning he added: “It brings the liberals into London.”

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The late VS Naipaul was once invited to Francis Ford Coppola’s house. “Against his own instincts, Naipaul arrived on the West Coast,” the LRB relates. “At the hacienda, Coppola informed him that the only other guest apart from family would be George Lucas. Naipaul was amazed. ‘Georg Lukács, the Hungarian philosopher? I thought he was dead?’”

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Sources close to the Israeli embassy are wondering whether Benjamin Netanyahu’s Twitter attack on Corbyn last night bore the hallmarks of ambassador Mark Regev. When Netanyahu was elected he persuaded Regev to stay on as official spokesman. Did he reprise his old role by helping compose the tweet?

Carr parks up for festival comedy

Comedian Jimmy Carr took a break from his UK tour last night and headed to the cinema for the premiere of The Festival.

The film follows a group of hedonistic twentysomethings as they navigate a music festival.

Hugh Coles — who plays Rex — admits that he drew from life for his performance, having had a wild time at a trance event.

“All the horrible things that happened in The Festival very much happened to me at Global Gathering,” says Coles.

“It was like the last days of Rome, it was mad.” Welsh harpist Claire Jones and swimwear designer Kimberley Garner were among the guests at the event at Cineworld Leicester Square, as was Dermot O’Leary.

The presenter will return to The X Factor as host for the next series and has recently released his latest fragrance with M&S, part of his grooming range with the high street staple. Turns out the smell of success is Earl Grey and Sandalwood.

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Andrea Jenkyns (below), Tory MP for Morley and Outwood, released another video saying she was “standing up for Brexit” last night. Sadly, she doesn’t appear to sit down for Brexit: she has the lowest attendance record on the committee and has missed the last five evidence hearings on the Brexit select committee on which she sits. Writer Matthew Holehouse says Jenkyns quit as a PPS “to spend more time on the committee”. Luckily, her toddler son is nicknamed Brexit Clifford.

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John McTernan, a former adviser to Tony Blair, has been reported to Labour’s General Secretary for saying “anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism” on Twitter. A member took offence, replying: “I wish to lodge a formal complaint.” McTernan sighed, “This, sadly, is today’s Labour.”

Confirmation of that Boris Johnson rumour from ex-BBC producer Jane Bradley: “He’d always ruffle his hair right before the camera started rolling.”

Jah to new vote, says Reggae Reggae Levi

Reggae Reggae Sauce creator Levi Roots is in favour of another Brexit referendum. “As a Rastafarian I try not to get involved in politics,” he says. “But as a businessman I can’t but be involved. The future looks very uncertain and that’s worrying. Being an entrepreneur is all about making calculated bets, and that’s much harder to do with things being so up in the air.” Speaking at the Creator Awards UK launch, he added: “I’m a great one for second chances. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t been given a second chance.”