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Jeremy Corbyn floored! The Guardian, 16th August:
Corbyn joins seatless commuters on floor for three-hour train journey
Labour leader is filmed during trip from London to Newcastle, on his way to meet Owen Smith for leadership hustings
[…]
Later, Corbyn said: “Is it fair that I should upgrade my ticket whilst others who might not be able to afford such a luxury should have to sit on the floor? It’s their money I would be spending after all.”
The Guardian, 23rd August:
Virgin Trains disputes Jeremy Corbyn claim over lack of seats
Film of Labour leader sitting on floor of ‘ram-packed’ train countered by CCTV footage of him walking past empty seats
Guido Fawkes’ blog, 23rd August:
Owen Smith tweets a nice kick to a man when he is on the floor (unnecessarily):
“My campaign remains on track. Proud to be genuinely standing up for ordinary people.”
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No, he appears to be sitting down (or squatting?), not “standing up.”
Rule of Funny applies.
And talking of TV Tropes, Owen Smith, for that line, come the counter-revolution, You Will Be Spared.
With enemies like this, who needs friends? 😀
Wait, Corbyn actually acknowledges the source of tax money? That sounds like the real story here.
In days gone by you (late 80s) could upgrade to 1st class for £3. I don’t know if that is still true. However if Corbyn–whose socialist dickheadery, should he ever get the chance, would complete the ruin of us all–thinks that £3 (or its latterday equivalent) is too much then that is just virtue signalling.
Corbyn is a cretin.
Booking a seat in advance and thus having a reservation is much cheaper than a day ticket. Corbyn must know his scheduled. If he wanted to save money sitting on the floor briefly for a photo op isn’t the way to do it
Couldn’t he have cleaned the carriages to assist the hard-pressed workers when he gets there?
A real socialist would have thought of the workers!
Alsadius: Quite. I am, however, somewhat put in mind of The High Sparrow from Game of Thrones who lives personally in poverty and humility but still visits bad and terrible things on others.
Proof Corbyn knows his core voter demographic – those too young to remember how utterly shite British Rail was, my own dear Southern Rail might have a few scheduling problems, but at least they know how to clean the inside of a train.
Of course Corbyn wants “more trains”, because that means “more drivers and guards” and “more members of the RMT union” and more funds flowing into his campaign coffers, courtesy of the taxpayer.
He is absolutely deluded, but it’s still quite frightening to know how much support he has.
Except that he was on the train for the purpose of Labour party business, going to a Labour party event, so he had better not have been using public money…
On Sundays (maybe Saturdays too) but never on weekdays.
Yes Mr Jeremy Corbyn is a shameless liar – of course he is.
However, why was (for example) the BBC pushing the story of Mr Corbyn lying about finding no seat on the train?
They were helping expose Mr Corbyn because they want Mr Owen Smith to win the Labour Leadership election.
This is because they think Mr Smith is more likely to win the next election for the left (for he is of the left) than Mr Corbyn is.
It is that brutally simple.
Richard: Yeah, the High Sparrow was an interesting Taliban ripoff.
TomJ: He was referring to his salary, I think.
Paul Marks: Possibly so, but given Smith is likely not going to beat Corbyn, giving Momentum et al time to fully take control of the Party’s mechanisms, it is also likely JC will be fighting the next general election as leader. The Beeb has just managed to help put the (accurate) impression that JC is both incompetent and mendacious into the public consciousness. This is a Good Thing.
Alsadius: Well that’s bloody stupid – by that logic a nurse or private soldier should never indulge themselves by taking first class on a long journey, because they are paid by the taxpayer. Indeed, there’s an argument that if you can afford first class and choose not to take it you are unnecessarily adding to the crowding in standard, minimal as it was on this train.
TomJ: Since when have “Jeremy Corbyn” and “bloody stupid” been antonyms?
Good point, one well presented.
Paul/TomJ – I think the fact that a high-profile businessman has just attacked the leader of the opposition for lying (with evidence) is probably a fairly major story, especially as it was a quiet news day in general (unless you want to send journalists to report on bits of the world where things are happening, which seems to be out of fashion). No obvious bias, although if the BBC wants to portray a dangerous and mendacious man as an unsuitable leader of a political party, and the facts are obviously laid out, isn’t that their job – we’d surely prefer that to them ignoring the faults in the interest of ‘balance’?
Watchman: absolutely. To me the more interesting thing than the stunt is that, even in the face of the evidence, the Corbyn campaign kept on trying to cover up the fact it was staged. Had they but said, “It’s a fair cop, but you’ve got to admit you had no trouble believing it happened. That’s because this sort of thing does happen all too often which is why…” they’d not only have got away with it but also left the point they wanted made in people’s minds. Instead: https://storify.com/thhamilton/traingate