The return of the Red Scare is a sign of desperation from the right-wing press The red menace is back. Or, maybe not. Over the last few days a spectre has haunted the right-wing British […]

The red menace is back. Or, maybe not. Over the last few days a spectre has haunted the right-wing British press: alleged Czech spy, Jan Sarkocy. More Austin Powers than James Bond, Sarkocy’s allegations – that Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are Soviet spies – have caught the attention of a media establishment that must have recently caught on to the fact that the Labour Party is planning on closing offshore bank accounts when it comes to power.

Even though the head of the Czech Security Forces, who also has access to the now defunct StB’s (Czechoslovac communist secret service) records, has rubbished the claims, elements of the press have been whipped into a frenzy. The Sun broke the story under the headline “Jeremy Corbyn was paid by Communist spies to report on Britain” adding that he was rated “number one” by Moscow.

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The claims continued on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph the next day with “Czech agent claims 15 Labour MPs met spies”, and even feature on the front page of the Daily Mail today under the headline “Labour MPs ‘were paid £10,000 to meet spies”. At a time of crisis within the British government it is only right that we focus on who Jeremy Corbyn might have had a coffee with some thirty years ago.

A long history of ‘commie’ smears

This is not a new tactic for the right wing press. The scandal which brought about the fall of the first Labour government in 1924 was sparked by the Zinoviev letter which called on British communists to organise in support of the Labour Party. The story was published the Daily Mail four days before the 1924 general election, yet an official report in 1999 found that the letter was “almost certainly leaked by MI6 or MI5 officers to the Conservative Party.”

There have been similar claims made against Harold Wilson, Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock.

‘It appears that the ‘spy’ was actually talking about the 1988 Free Nelson Mandela Concert, but decided to take credit for Live Aid anyway’

Charged language

These claims against Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are particularly menacing, though. In response to the original Sun splash, the defence secretary Gavin Williamson argued that the Labour leader “can’t be trusted” and that he “has never had Britain’s interests at heart.” Just last month, Darren Osborne was jailed for murder and attempted murder after driving a van into a crowd outside of a mosque. He admitted during his trial that he wanted to murder Jeremy Corbyn because it “would be one less terrorist [on] our streets”. Such a statement should serve as a reminder to us all of the dangers of using such charged language.

This is before we even come to an argument about the credibility of the source. In his interview with a Czech publication, Sarkocy alleges that he “put on a concert in Wembley.” When asked by the interviewer if he is talking about Live Aid, the Czech ‘spy’ replies: “I did that.” From the context of the interview it appears that the ‘spy’ was actually talking about the 1988 Free Nelson Mandela Concert that was held at Wembley, but decided to take credit for Live Aid anyway.

In many ways, the story seems to stem from desperation. At Labour’s conference in Brighton Jeremy Corbyn begged the Daily Mail to continue running its hit pieces on him because it only appeared to help Labour’s polling position. The British people are not stupid, despite what some in the press believe. If they were serious about helping the Tory party they should spend their time calling on the Prime Minister to actually offer something. But for as long as they are willing to play I-Spy it will be the Labour leadership that has the last laugh.

Liam Young is author of Rise (Simon and Schuster, 8 March). He also works for a Labour MP.