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When a relaxed and thoughtful Jeremy Corbyn plonked himself down in front of journalists for a quick media huddle yesterday it was a world away from the icy sterility of my interview with Prime Minister Theresa May a few months earlier, writes Lyn Barton.

When she sallied forth into the regions in May, ahead of what was to be a disastrous General Election, the trip had been organised to the nth degree and any variation on the prescribed plan was strictly verboten.

Firstly her staff said Cornwall Live was to have three questions - that was it, no variation, no repetition, no extra time.

Then the sharp-suited media team demanded to know the questions beforehand - a request that was ignored.

(Image: Greg Martin)

The Cornwall Live team was rather famously shut in a room and forbidden from witnessing the visit to a company in Helston.

Then, as though I was in a dentist's waiting room, I was told the PM would see me now, ushered through to a meeting room and allowed to ask my questions.

My feeling was that it didn't matter what I asked - could have enquired about her favourite Star Wars film or whether she had eaten grapefruit recently, as the answer would have been turned round so she could repeat the mantra of being "strong and stable".

It was an annoyance that we couldn't film this encounter - and the reasons still don't wash in my view - and afterwards I felt I had not been able to enlighten Cornwall Live readers about the PM or what she was championing for the General Election.

It was a cold, clinical and over-organised encounter.

(Image: Greg Martin)

The only sign of real warmth came when Mrs May gave a rueful laugh to my use of the word "please" in a plea for Cornwall's health and social care system to be better funded.

Fast forward to yesterday's rally at Heartlands and the contrast genuinely couldn't have been stronger.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is famously not one for interviews and in the very few he grants to the likes of Radio 4's Today programme, he comes across as tetchy and, on occasion, arrogant.

In fact I wasn't expecting much jollity from a man who was asked by Radio 4's Woman's Hour about his favourite biscuit rather humorlessly replied that he was somewhat anti-sugar.

But at the rally for the NHS yesterday, Mr Corbyn showed his human side, mingling with the crowds after a speech delivered without the aid of a big script or auto-prompt.

He happily, smilingly indeed, posed for selfies with people and their dogs while the media were herded into a room next to the Red River Cafe.

Backstage it was fairly casual affair with tea and half eaten sandwiches on the side table.

Labour Party press officers didn't ask me what I was going to grill the leader about, adding this was a regional event and so the questions should be kept to local issues.

This pleased the locals, but rather disappointed a Daily Mail reporter who flew in that day and was pointedly reminded that she had not even been invited.

When Mr Corbyn came in, the press were asked to introduce themselves and then the floor was opened up for questions.

Far from being guarded or suspicious of the media, the Labour leader answered openly and honestly without referring to a script or banging on about his pet subject.

I asked him about Brexit and how a Labour Government would make up the shortfall of EU funding and I pressed him on whether it was a promise that the county would not be disadvantaged.

I quizzed him about whether he was pleased with his reception in Cornwall - he was, very.

Finally, despite standing up as if to leave, I fired one last question at him.

"Have you ever been tempted to shut any journalists in a room?"

Mr Corbyn instantly understood the allusion and a colleague from another media pointed out it was me that had been corralled by Mrs May's team.

He laughed warmly, sat back down again and said that no, he had never been tempted to shut a reporter in a room and that, as a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), he was very much one of us.

So there it was; a lesson in contrasts.

I appreciate that there is bound to be a difference in style and approach between a Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition.

But my feeling was more than that was reflected and it had nothing to do with political leanings.

After all, when Boris Johnson stopped off in St Ives ahead of the General Election, his smiling and approachable manner won him that rock star reception and brought a whole town to a standstill.