Jeremy Corbyn seemingly lied to his adoring supporters in a virtue-signalling video that showed him sitting on the floor of a “ram-packed” train.
The Labour leader was filmed complaining about a Virgin Trains service he was riding on, claiming it was too busy and implying it had forced him to sit on the floor:
At the end of the clip he claimed his plight was “a good case” for his pet policy to renationalise Britain’s railways.
It was lapped up by Corbyn supporters and was viewed tens of thousands of times, winning him sympathy even from people who aren’t his usual fanbase.
However, new footage from inside the train shows that there were in fact empty seats on the train, and that Mr Corbyn could have sat down if he liked.
Stills released by the Virgin Trains press office showed the leader walking past seats he could have taken on his trip from London to Newcastle:
Instead he chose to sit in the corner and attack the train service.
Mr Corbyn did not directly claim he couldn’t get a seat – but the context makes it abundantly clear. He tells the camera: “This is a problem that many passengers face every day”.
Later he adds: “This train is completely ram-packed… the reality is there’s not enough trains.”
The clearest image (above) shows Corbyn ignoring seats which had been reserved but were unclaimed – meaning he and his team were free to use them until they were claimed by ticketholders.
There were also unreserved seats in a different coach, which footage filmed from behind shows Mr Corbyn passing:
Indeed, the company claims that 15 minutes after Mr Corbyn filmed his video he was shown to a seat of his own, where he then spent most of the journey.
The video was recorded on August 11, while Corbyn rode the 11am service from London King’s Cross to Newcastle.
It was published five days later by The Guardian, who were apparently handed the footage by the freelance cameraman who recorded it – who is also an occasional Guardian contributor.
It is unclear how much of the context of the video The Guardian knew before it published and whether any efforts were made to find out.
After thinking about it for several hours, Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign released a press statement, which claimed he was “unable” to find seats despite walking past them.
A spokesman said: “When Jeremy boarded the train he was unable to find unreserved seats, so he sat with other passengers in the corridor who were also unable to find a seat.
“Later in the journey, seats became available after a family were upgraded to first class, and Jeremy and the team he was travelling with were offered the seats by a very helpful member of staff.”
Heat Street has contacted The Guardian for comment.