How the media covers politics is increasingly becoming a core part of the 2017 general election narrative, with a focus on whether or not Theresa May is opening her events to the public, why Labour are not inviting some newspapers on the road, and the impact of a new group of alt-left pro-Corbyn media outlets.

"There is a slight danger with social media in that people end up being an echo chamber of themselves and self-select what they want to read because it’s something they largely agree with," Corbyn said. "Of course it’s good to read about things you’re interested in or by someone you particularly like but it’s also important to expose yourself to the arguments of others. So I urge people to read widely."



Curiously, he seemed deeply affected by a current plotline on EastEnders – "I watch it on catch-up" – featuring the character Bex Fowler, who is being bullied over the internet. The Labour leader appeared genuinely concerned by what it says about modern society.

"The problems of personal relations on social media is that the levels of bullying can become horrendous," he said. "She's [Bex] being bullied at school by her mates and she’s turning around in a good way and challenging them. The story is developing in a very, very interesting way.

"Well done to the BBC and EastEnders for dealing with the issue, because a soap opera can be a very powerful way of getting your message across on the effects on an individual and how another girl having her drinks spiked at a party and her friends – instead of helping her and supporting her – are taking pictures of her collapsing on the floor."

Some things have changed for Corbyn since the vote was called: As a potential future prime minister during an election period, he is now accompanied by plain clothes protection officers who drive him around in a convoy of Range Rovers. There's still time for selfies, but there's now a substantial number of staff who track him everywhere, nervously trying to keep to the proposed timetable with limited success.

He insisted he always found time to read about things other than politics during campaigns and was currently working through a 1908 dystopian novel called The Iron Heel by Jack London, which the Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature describes as a warning about fascist plutocrats who, "fearing the popularity of socialism", collude to "eliminate democracy and, with their secret police and military, terrorise the citizenry".

He also laughed at being told that the Conservatives had just sent out a press release branding him and shadow chancellor John McDonnell as the "Marx brothers".

"Marx is a standard text in most university economics courses and I urge anyone who’s serious about economics to read Marx but also to read Adam Smith, David Ricardo," he said. "Read other people! Read Varoufakis and what he went through in Greece! Read Joseph Stiglitz! Read around the subject – don’t always look for an echo chamber of yourself. How else do you learn how the world is?"

He has no major concerns about Russian interference in the election. "We’re all under threat from hackers all the time... Let’s not get paranoid about it". Nor is he troubled by personal attacks. "The only time it gets really nasty is when there’s abuse of my family or loved ones."

Regardless, it's hard to claim all is going to plan or that the election was called at a moment when Corbyn had neither strong personal popularity ratings or total control over his own party.

At an earlier campaign stop in Worcester – seen as the archetypal marginal seat a party of government must win – the cheery local candidate Joy Squires posed for pictures with Corbyn as he led a strong campaign rally which attracted hundreds of people outside the city's Queen Anne-era Guidhall.

Squires, slightly sheepishly, admitted she voted for Owen Smith in last year's Labour leadership election and wouldn't deny that the Labour leader is mentioned regularly in a negative manner on the doorstep. "I think that there are concerns that the Labour party has to be able to present itself as a party of government – but I am doing that on the doorstep every day."

How does the Labour leader cope with the substantial number of lifelong Labour voters who say they still like the party but won’t vote for Jeremy Corbyn?

“It doesn’t get to me at all," he said. "What I would say is that is about the party as a whole, the policies we’re putting forward as a whole, and the individual messenger is the person who’s doing their best to put those policies forward. I was elected leader of this party, I’m proud to do it, and I’ll carry on doing it.”

Instead, Corbyn's spending his time on the campaign trail imagining the people he believes he could help if he became prime minister: "I think of lots of people I know. I think of the homeless, those looking for a house, those in work where their skills are not properly recognised, I think of people trying to run a small business being ripped off by big business. I think of all those issues and try to encapsulate them into a coherent strategy."

And he has a message to the substantial anti-Corbyn Labour faction who still strongly oppose his project. "Listen guys," he said, "this is our chance to go and win."