Ben Bradley apologises to Jeremy Corbyn over tweet and makes payment to charity

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Ben Bradley, the Conservative MP for Mansfield, has apologised unreservedly for his tweet claiming Jeremy Corbyn had "sold British secrets to communist spies".

He has also pledged never to repeat the claims in any form, agreed to make a substantial donation to charities of the Labour leader’s choosing and meet his legal costs.

Corbyn will divide the donation between a homeless charity and a food bank in Mansfield.

The Labour Party website has the wording of the apology Bradley will tweet:

On 19 February 2018 I made a seriously defamatory statement on my Twitter account, ‘Ben Bradley MP (@bbradleymp)’, about Jeremy Corbyn, alleging he sold British secrets to communist spies. I have since deleted the defamatory tweet. I have agreed to pay an undisclosed substantial sum of money to a charity of his choice, and I will also pay his legal costs. 

I fully accept that my statement was wholly untrue and false. I accept that I caused distress and upset to Jeremy Corbyn by my untrue and false allegations, suggesting he had betrayed his country by collaborating with foreign spies. 

I am very sorry for publishing this untrue and false statement and I have no hesitation in offering my unreserved and unconditional apology to Jeremy Corbyn for the distress I have caused him.

There are serious questions to be asked about the Labour left's attitude to the Soviet Union and its satellites, but (like its attitude to the Provisional IRA) I suspect it is all too long ago to concern most voters.

Bradley - despite his expensive education - turns out to be about the least-equipped person to raise those questions. I am reminded of the demise of Katie Hopkins.