THE smears against Jeremy Corbyn being a “terrorist sympathiser” by the Tories and correspondents like Alistair Rutter (HAS, June 8) appear to have worked, but I for one are not prepared to listen to lectures on terrorism from Tory hypocrites.
Yes, Mr Corbyn met leaders of the Irish Republican movement in order to facilitate peace and was criticised for doing it, yet we now know that the Tory governments of Thatcher and Major were also secretly talking to the IRA and there was even a telephone hotline between the IRA and British state.
Furthermore, in the modern era the Tories continue to supply arms to terrorist supporting regimes, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Saudi arms are used to massacre innocent civilians in Yemen and Qatar supports al Qaida and Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Indeed we should not forget that David Cameron helped to bring down the regime of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya, thus creating spaces for al Qaida and IS-type militants to operate there.
Finally, they also seem to have a preference for IS in Syria as opposed to the secular regime of President Assad in Syria.
John Gilmore, Bishop Auckland
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