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The Tory government was inviting Jeremy Corbyn to teach its own civil servants before David Cameron started claiming he was a security threat.

Veteran MP Mr Corbyn went into the Foreign Office - one of the most high-security buildings in Whitehall - to lecture staff about how government works.

The regular use of Mr Corbyn between May 2014 and June this year, before he became leader, doesn't quite tally with his later depiction by Tory MPs .

David Cameron branded him a "terrorist sympathiser" while George Osborne painted the anti-nuclear politician a "threat to national security".

Yet Foreign Office authorities used him for nine hour-long lectures on the theme of 'understanding government'.

It's thought the Labour leader was chosen by Civil Service Learning, a Whitehall body, because at 32 years he has been in the Commons longer than most MPs.

The disclosures were made in the Commons register of MPs' interests, which showed the lectures earned Mr Corbyn £1,350 - £150 per one-hour talk.

Another six lectures on the title Working with Parliament, given at a private address, brought in £900.

Mr Corbyn's spokesman was unable to say immediately if he kept the fees.

Other figures in the register showed Mr Corbyn received more than £150,000 from unions as part of his campaign to be Labour leader.

The money, featuring both loans and donations, included £5,000 from the Fire Brigades Union - which later voted to reaffiliate to Labour after an 11-year feud .