- Ben Bradley was forced to apologise to Mr Corbyn an pay an estimated £35,000
- The Tory MP’s apology quickly became his most retweeted and liked tweet ever
- The Mansfield MP accepted the accusation he had tweeted was ‘wholly untrue’
- It followed allegations over Mr Corbyn’s contact with a Czech intelligence agent
The Tory Party’s newly appointed youth tsar has been left red-faced after his apology for defaming Jeremy Corbyn notches up 38,000 retweets in less than 24 hours.
Ben Bradley posted the apology on Twitter last night and it quickly became a surprise online hit.
Corbynistas were quick to seize upon the statement – which lawyers for the Labour leader has insisted included the line ‘please retweet’.
The message quickly became the Tory MPs most liked and retweeted message on the website.
Tory Mp Ben Bradley’s apology for defaming Jeremy Corbyn notched up 38,000 retweets in less than 24 hours
Mr Bradley, 28, who was promoted to be Tory vice-chairman for youth in the January reshuffle, admitted defaming the Labour leader ‘sold British secrets to communist spies’.
He forced to apologise to Mr Corbyn and pay an estimated £35,000. He accepted the accusation – which he made in a tweet – was ‘wholly untrue’.
His comment followed allegations over the Labour leader’s contact with a Czech intelligence agent in the 1980s.
Mr Bradley has to foot the bill for Mr Corbyn’s legal costs and will donate the rest of the cash to a homeless charity and a food bank in Mr Bradley’s Mansfield constituency.
Ben Bradley was yesterday forced to apologise to Mr Corbyn and pay an estimated £35,000
Labour said Mr Bradley had agreed to admit that his tweet was ‘seriously defamatory’.
Tory sources indicated they would stand by him, saying he had ‘a lot to offer the party’.
But one senior Tory MP called on Mrs May to sack him as a vice-chairman, saying: ‘Ben does have a lot to offer, but at present that seems to be the Labour Party – not us.’
It is the latest gaffe by Mr Bradley, who was only elected to Parliament in the June snap election.
He apologised earlier this year after blog posts he sent several years ago suggesting men on benefits should get a vasectomy and stop relying on the welfare state to support their children.