Corbyn Monitored by Special Branch, Addressed Rally Attended by Group that Inspired London Bridge Attack

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was monitored by undercover security officers for 20 years over fears he was trying to undermine democracy, as it also emerged the Labour leader addressed a rally attended by the notorious Islamist group said to have inspired the London Bridge attack.

Corbyn was “deemed to be a subversive” and involved in activities intended to “undermine or overthrow parliamentary democracy”, an unnamed former special branch officer told The Telegraph.

Noting the source said it was not for alleged sympathies with the IRA that he was thought to be “subversive”, The Telegraph speculated it may have been Corbyn’s links to Islamic extremist groups that officers had probed.

It was revealed on Tuesday the Labour leader gave a speech at a demonstration attended by members of proscribed terror organisation Al-Muhajiroun, which was supported by London Bridge attack ringleader Khuram Shazad Butt.

Up to 300 members of the now banned group, some of whom were dressed as suicide bombers, were amongst the crowd who heard Corbyn speak at the anti-Israel rally held at Trafalgar Square in 2002.

The Communist Party of Great Britain’s Weekly Worker newspaper reported at the time: “Al Muhajiroun held placards reading ‘Palestine is Muslim’. They chanted, ‘Skud, Skud Israel’ and ‘Gas, gas Tel Aviv’, along with their support for bin Laden. Two would-be suicide posers were dressed in combat fatigues with a ‘bomb’ strapped to their waists.”

A spokesman said of the 2002 event that Corbyn “addressed a broad-based rally in support of Palestinian rights” and was in “no way responsible for the views of all of the thousands of attendees.  Jeremy condemns Al-Muhajiroun in the strongest possible terms.”

But Defence Secretary Michael Fallon argued the latest revelation about the Labour leader’s association with extremists “shows exactly why he is unfit to lead the country”.

“He has a long track-record of siding with people who want to damage and attack the UK and there can be no excuse for his decision to address this rally,” he added.