Jeremy Corbyn ‘invited two left-wing friends to his flat to show off naked girlfriend Diane Abbott’
It happened in 1979 after Corbyn’s first marriage to Jane Chapman broke down
LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn showed off a naked Diane Abbott in his bed to two left-wing friends when he was a young activist, a new book has revealed.
Corbyn invited two political allies back to his North London flat saying he needed to pick up more leaflets – but they stumbled in to find Abbott lying naked on the bed.
Corbyn proudly told them Abbott was his new girlfriend, the book by investigative author Tom Bower claims.
His friend Keith Veness recalled: “He wanted us to see her in his bed. She was shocked when we entered”.
It happened in 1979 soon after Corbyn’s first marriage to Jane Chapman broke down because he was apparently more interested in political campaigning than her emotional needs.
Corbyn’s romance with Abbott ended any hope Chapman might have had that their relationship could be rekindled, the book claims.
In Abbott, he had found a political soul mate who viewed Britain as the country that “invented racism” and echoed his praise for the IRA.
At the time Abbott was working for the National Council for Civil Liberties as a race relations officer.
The book, serialised in the , alleges her colleagues found her private diary, where one entry detailed her sexual fantasy of being manhandled by Corbyn who she described as a “a bearded Fenian and NUPE national organiser”.
There were also descriptions of a motorbike holiday with him around France and a passionate romp in a Cotswolds field, which she described as her “finest half-hour”.
LOVE AFFAIR ONLY LASTED A YEAR
However their love affair only lasted a year because Abbott grew fed-up with Corbyn’s way of life, the book claims.
Just as he had ignored his first wife, he started ignoring her. At 27, she wanted marriage and eventually children. Corbyn wanted neither.
Abbott said it was “hard to have a relationship with someone who doesn’t come home for two weeks”.
According to Bower’s book when he saw her belongings being packed up, he walked away without comment and said he was off to a meeting.
CORBYN’S ‘JOYLESS’ APPROACH WRECKED FIRST MARRIAGE
Elsewhere in the book Corbyn’s first wife told how the Labour leader’s “joyless” approach to life wrecked their marriage.
Bower writes: “He would sit on the floor in his greasy, unwashed army surplus store jacket, oblivious to his wife’s irritation.
“They rarely went out together. Dinner invitations were refused. Chapman spent lonely evenings in their small flat with Mango the dog and Harold Wilson the cat as her only companions while Corbyn met political cronies.”
Occasionally he returned home late from a meeting of the Hornsey Labour Party with friends to sing IRA songs while they all got drunk on beer.
The pair split before Christmas 1979, shortly before Corbyn embarked on his year-long affair with Abbott.
As she packed her bags, Corbyn told her she should read something by the feminist author Simone de Beauvoir.
Chapman said: “Jeremy never thought there was anything wrong. He assumed that, because our politics were compatible, that amounted to a proper relationship.
“He didn’t acknowledge my emotional side. He doesn’t recognise a woman’s feelings.
“He thought I left him on a feminist kick. But it was because I wanted some fun. His lack of emotional awareness didn’t change. My emotional life was part of a relationship was forgotten.”
SECOND MARRIAGE ENDED DUE TO CORBYN’S ‘FINANCIAL INCOMPETENCE’
Corbyn then met Claudia Bracchitta at a protest meeting against Chile’s military dictatorship, addressed by Ken Livingstone.
“She wanted to get off with me”, Livingstone claimed, “but I had to go off to meet Kate, my partner, so she went for Jeremy.”
Claudia was already married, but by the following year she was pregnant with Corbyn’s child and rushed through a divorce to marry him.
However the relationship fizzled out within little more than a decade not because of her decision to send their son to grammar school but, Bower writes, “by Corbyn’s financial incompetence, his neglect of his family, his arid lifestyle and his apparent misogyny”.
Friends said the marriage ended because of Corbyn’s “financial fecklessness, his thoughtless absences and his selfish refusal to do anything to make his wife’s life more pleasant”.
SECRETLY BACKED BREXIT
The book, written after 18 months research by the investigative author, claimed Corbyn secretly believed in Brexit but campaigned for Remain.
The EU, he thought, existed for greedy bankers and multinationals to exploit the working class.
If Britain voted to leave, and freed itself from Brussels’ control, a socialist government could prevent British investment abroad and control markets, tariffs and profits – all contrary to EU laws.
The book claimed Corbyn and McDonnell wanted to campaign for Britain to leave, but were challenged by Hilary Benn and others in the Shadow Cabinet. Reluctantly, Corbyn agreed to campaign for Remain.
It said the day after the Referendum result Corbyn was “seen laughing over breakfast with his team”
Bower said: “Although Milne and McDonnell admitted to voting Leave, Corbyn would deny that he had done so.
“After a telephone conversation, his old friend Keith Veness believes that he did vote Leave, not least because he sounded so delighted.”
Bower’s biography A Dangerous Hero: Corbyn’s Ruthless Plot for Power, serialised in the Mail on Sunday, is published on February 21.
