Jeremy Corbyn admits seats WERE free on Virgin service amid 'traingate' row

Jeremy Corbyn today conceded there were spare seats on the “ram-packed” Virgin train where he claimed he was forced to sit on the floor.

In a change to his version of events, he said he had been looking for seats for him and “a group of colleagues” to sit together, accepting that the train was not full.

It came during a bad-tempered press conference in which he rebuked reporters for questions about the incident and whether it reflected on his integrity.

Mr Corbyn’s campaign manager Sam Tarry — a national official with the TSSA rail union — attempted to deflect the spotlight onto Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson by branding the tycoon a “tax exile” who was “laughing all the way to the bank”.

But the extraordinary row overshadowed Mr Corbyn’s launch of policies to “renationalise” the NHS. One questioner asked if he was a “liar”.

Mr Corbyn was filmed last week on the carriage floor saying: “Today this train is completely ram-packed.” Today however a frosty Mr Corbyn said: “I boarded a crowded train with a group of colleagues to travel to Newcastle.

“We journeyed through the train looking for places, there wasn’t a place for us all to sit down, and so for 40 minutes or so I remained at the front of the train in the vestibule there sitting on the floor.”

Asked why he walked past seats that were not reserved, he said: “Yes, I did look for two empty seats together so I could sit down with my wife to talk to her, that wasn’t possible.”

He insisted his original version of events reflected the experience of commuters on crowded trains.

Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith implied that the Left-winger had not told the truth. “I’m not quite sure what the Corbyn version of events is because I think it changed a couple of times yesterday,” he said.

“But what is clear from the footage that I’ve seen is that he had a seat on the train, and there were seats on the train, and he chose to sit on the floor.”

Mr Smith was forced into an embarrassing apology today for appearing to call Mr Corbyn a “lunatic”. He told party members in Hammersmith last night: “What you won’t get from me is some lunatic at the top of the Labour Party.”

But after a furious response from mental health campaigners, Mr Smith said: “If anybody is offended by the use of that word, then I do apologise.”