Labour’s war with the media rattles on

Once upon a time, ITV was the darling of the Corbynistas. In fact, it was Mr S who disclosed that Seumas Milne — Corbyn’s director of communications — had been overheard discussing the pros of the broadcaster over the Beeb, back in January.

Alas, things have since taken a turn for the worse. The problem? An ITV reporter dared to ask the Labour leader whether he would be happy if Theresa May called an early election. After Libby Wiener asked the question at a conference organised by Class, Corbyn claimed he was being ‘harassed’.

Jeremy Corbyn ducks question on general election; accuses @LibbyWienerITV of 'harrassment'https://t.co/6IPEIahDbj pic.twitter.com/ZUsiTrBbRX

— ITV News (@itvnews) November 5, 2016

Now Richard Burgon — the shadow justice secretary — has described the incident as ‘a bit of pre-prepared false controversy’. When asked about the comments on Sunday Politics, Burgon claimed Corbyn should not have been expected to answer any questions ahead of his speech at the event — and should have been allowed to instead ‘do interviews afterwards’.