Opponents mock leader over #traingate

Jeremy Corbyn was mocked on social media after his claim that he was forced to sit on the floor of a packed rail carriage was challenged by Virgin Trains.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Aug 2016, 08:37 BST
Updated 25th Aug 2016, 20:02 BST
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, walking past several empty, unreserved seats in Coach F, after a video emerged last week which showed Mr Corbyn sitting on the floor, reading a newspaperLabour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, walking past several empty, unreserved seats in Coach F, after a video emerged last week which showed Mr Corbyn sitting on the floor, reading a newspaper
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, walking past several empty, unreserved seats in Coach F, after a video emerged last week which showed Mr Corbyn sitting on the floor, reading a newspaper

Labour leadership rival Owen Smith joked that his own campaign remained “on track” and he was “proud to be standing up for ordinary people”.

Former shadow cabinet minister Chris Bryant, another critic of Mr Corbyn, said: “I think the wheels just came off Jeremy’s campaign and he’s about to be shunted into a siding.”

The row was swiftly dubbed #traingate on Twitter.

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Jack Grant joked: “And they said Corbyn couldn’t win seats.”

But supporters of Mr Corbyn rallied around the leader, claiming that all the seats the leader allegedly walked past had been reserved or even claiming it was footage from a different train.

Mr Corbyn’s support for renationalising the railways was highlighted as a possible motive for Virgin’s response to the Labour leader.

Twitter user Chris Lowe said “billionaire with rail monopoly attacks socialist’s attempt to nationalise his racket”.

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Charles B Anthony, who filmed the original footage of Mr Corbyn on the train, said: “Corbyn wants to renationalise their business. You do the math.”

He said the Virgin footage of Mr Corbyn sitting in a seat was from after the Labour leader had filmed his video message on the floor, once the packed train had emptied out.

Related topics:Jeremy CorbynLabourTwitter