Jeremy Corbyn has instructed lawyers to take legal action against Nigel Farage after claiming that the GB News presenter made a “highly defamatory” statement on his show last week.
Posting on X, the former Labour leader accused Mr Farage of spreading “disgusting and malicious lies” about him and said he would not let them go “unchallenged”.
The MP for Islington North, who sits as an independent, said the legal proceedings followed a statement by Mr Farage on the show in which he allegedly linked Mr Corbyn to an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
He wrote: "Our demonstrations for a ceasefire are made up of people of all ages, faiths and backgrounds, united in a desire to end human suffering. We continue to march because people continue to die - and we will not allow others to cynically and deliberately distort our calls for peace."
The Standard has contacted Mr Farage for comment.
The former UKIP and Brexit Party leader has hosted a daily TV show on the channel at 7pm since July 2021 after stepping back from frontline politics.
He is also the owner of right wing party Reform UK, though it is led by Richard Tice.
It comes just hours after media watchdog Ofcom ruled that Laurence Fox’s “misogynistic” comments about female journalist Ava Evans on GB News’ Dan Wootton Tonight broke broadcasting rules.
The remarks about political correspondent Ms Evans made by the actor turned politician during an episode of the programme on September 26 last year, in which he asked “Who would want to sh** that?”, received 8,867 complaints.
Fox and presenter Wootton were suspended by GB News after the broadcast and Fox was later sacked from the channel.
Neither apologised while on air, but did subsequently offer apologies.
Ofcom said it has “significant concerns about GB News’ editorial control of its live output” and has requested a meeting with the broadcaster to discuss its “compliance practices” on this topic.
The watchdog also announced it is launching a further investigation into Nigel Farage’s programme on the channel on January 17.
A spokesman for the regulator said: “We are investigating whether this programme broke our rules requiring news and current affairs to be presented with due impartiality, and preventing politicians from acting as news presenters.”
