David Aaronovitch, who hosts BBC Radio 4’s Briefing Room, had claimed on Twitter/X that Corbyn and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage both “like” Russian despot Vladimir Putin.
It came in response to a video in which Farage had told PoliticsJoe that both he and the independent MP for Islington North shared some political views, such as being Eurosceptic, thinking the world is too much in the power of corporations, and that they are both anti-establishment.
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Daniel Finkelstein, the Conservative peer and Times columnist, shared the video and wrote: “A shift that’s been coming. Really interesting and important.”
The BBC’s David Aaronovitch responded: “Not really Danny. Nothing in Farage’s economic or distributive agenda ties into Corbyn’s.
“They both like Putin but other than that Reform is a one-trick pony – it’s above all an anti-immigrant party.”
The claim that Corbyn “like[s] Putin” was called out by left-wing commentators.
(Image: Twitter/X) Andrew Fisher, who was Labour’s executive policy director during Corbyn’s time as leader, said: “Having worked closely with Jeremy for several years I only ever heard him speak negatively about Putin – and when [Tony] Blair was palling up to Putin, Corbyn was calling out his human rights abuses.”
Fisher shared a link to a 2005 BBC article in which Corbyn was reported as leading a demonstration against the war in Chechnya.
In contrast, Blair was known for trying to bring Putin closer to the West. Files released in 2022 showed that the former Labour prime minister had argued for the Russian despot to be given a seat at the world’s “top table”.
Commentator Owen Jones shared an article penned by Aaronovitch in 2005 in which he defended Blair’s record in government.
Responding to Aaronovitch himself, Corbyn wrote: “David, you know full well that your characterisation of me is totally false. Delete this lie immediately.”
The BBC host then doubled-down, writing: “It’s my belief that in consistently arguing over the years that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was the responsibility of the West and that Nato is behind the escalation in the region you have acted as Putin’s ally.”
In 2022, Corbyn explicitly stated that he did not blame Nato for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but questioned: “Do military alliances bring peace?”
The BBC is supposed to have strict rules for its news and public affairs hosts which prevent them from expressing such opinions online.
These rules were tightened further in 2023 after then-Match of the Day host Gary Lineker compared the Tories’ anti-immigration rhetoric to Germany in the 1930s.
The BBC has been asked if it will act in relation to Aaronovitch’s posts.