Labour First have hired a full-time henchman to undermine Jeremy Corbyn - but are they telling porkies about their crowdfunding success?

The right wing reds have recruited one Matthew Pound, a member of Streatham CLP, which backed Owen Smith in the leadership contest. To rustle up the necessary pieces of silver, they set up a crowdfunding appeal to cover his salary. Last week they gleefully announced that they were 'within £3,000' of their £40,000 target.

'Over 450 people donated!' said secretary (of Labour First - not just a secretary) Luke Akehurst 'This will hugely increase our capacity as we have previously relied entirely on volunteers'.

However, a look at their page on American funding platform Crowdpac page would seem to indicate that either they are not very good at sums - or have overexaggerated their total. As of 2pm today their total stood at just £17,972.

The delightful (and shortly to be underpaid) Mr Pound has a history of support for Labour's right wing. He was previously a parliamentary assistant to Toby Perkins MP, who made it into the 'premier league' of anti-Corbyn hostiles in last year's leaked list. Before that he worked for MP John Spellar, who despite heckling Mr Corbyn in the Commons with shouts of 'resign', only reached the second division.

He is tasked with 'counteracting' Momentum and making the party 'mainstream and electable' - as to how he will achieve this by launching more internal attacks has not thus far been revealed.

His viewpoint can clearly be seen in the things he posts on social media:

And his reading choices - although a habit of taking 'long lunches' even before you start a new job doesn't bode well for his work ethic......

Well, you get the picture.

The bad news for Matt is that, despite the total raised coming to less than half the average London wage, he still won't be eligible for any benefits under the current regime.

Several crowdfunding platforms operate an 'all or nothing' approach, which means that if a campaign fails to reach its target, it receives nothing. I'm sure that we all hope this is not the case here.

The Prole Star has contacted Labour First asking them to explain their seemingly skewed calculations, but has at the time of writing received no response.