It’s fair to say that the Conservatives’ attempts to use the allegations about Jeremy Corbyn’s links with a Czechoslovakian spy have had mixed results. The high point came when Theresa May managed to produce a joke about blank cheques and Czechs at this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, and everything else has been competing to be the low point, from Steve Baker’s deeply awful interview on the Daily Politics, to Ben Bradley receiving a letter from Corbyn’s lawyers.
Perhaps there could have been a slightly less ham-fisted way of engaging with the story. Or perhaps it would be better for the Tory party’s dignity, if nothing else, if it left these claims well alone.
It’s not just that the story itself doesn’t really add up, beyond the fact that Corbyn did meet Jan Sarkocy, but also that trying to stir it up further does real long-term damage that lasts far beyond a handful of Conservative MPs looking desperately overexcited.
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