Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of “hypocrisy” and “spin” after CCTV footage revealed he had a seat on a train despite suggesting it was so “ram-packed” he was forced to sit on the floor.

Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Trains and one of Britain’s best known entrepreneurs, took the remarkable step of releasing evidence to defend the company’s reputation.

The footage showed the Labour leader walking past empty seats before sitting on the floor, where he filmed a video which was released last week in which he called for the renationalisation of the railways.

Virgin released the CCTV on Tuesday which shows the full picture of his journey, including that he spent less than 40 minutes on the floor before staff found him and his team a seat for the rest of the the three-hour journey.

The row threatens to tarnish Mr Corbyn’s claim to be an "honest and straight-talking" politician who offers a "new politics" after the media-focused New Labour years.