CODENAMES,cold-war plots and a Czechoslovakian spy holding furtive (secretive; sly) meetings in Parliament: a story straight from a James Bond film captivated Westminster this week. Strangest of all, the character at the heart of the tale—known by spymasters in Prague as “COB”was a distinctly un-Bondlike Labour backbencher, or Jeremy Corbyn.
Jan Sarkocy,an ex-spy, met Mr Corbyn, or now Labour’s leader,three times in the 1980s under cover as a diplomat, the Sun reported. The spook claimed that COB, or as he codenamed his target,was paid by the Czech security service for information. Mr Corbyn confirmed that he met a Czech diplomat for tea in the Commons, but said he had no conception he was a spy. He denies that any money changed hands or that he supplied intelligence. The Czech defence ministry confirms that no payments were made; no one doubts Mr Corbyn’s insistence that he knew nothing worth passing on.
On February 20th Mr Corbyn issued a video riposte to the...
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Source: economist.com