Corbyn’s French introduction that got lost in translation

Jeremy Corbyn may once again fancy himself as an election asset after helping hard leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s group perform strongly in the first round of the French parliamentary elections, but I can disclose that when the pair first met, something was lost in translation.

On the face of it, the failed Labour leader and Mélenchon – at 70, just three years his junior – have a lot in common. Both are children of the 1960s, set in their ways and both have had to contend with periodic allegations of antisemitism. The Frenchman caused amusement in 2019 when he declared that Corbyn was “no more antisemitic than I am”.

Mélenchon may have made a bit of a fuss of Corbyn when he stepped off the Eurostar to campaign for him in Paris last week, yet we have no record of what was discussed. And perhaps that is for the best considering their first meeting, in Manchester when Corbyn still led Labour. “There were lots of people in the room, and I was surprised because they gave the impression of being more controllers than assistants, you understand what I mean,” Mélenchon recalled.

The pair spoke in English and Spanish – Mélenchon was aware that Corbyn has a Mexican wife – but the official Labour communiqué that followed bore at best a nodding acquaintance with what had actually passed between them.

“He said we had spoken at length about the necessity of public investment,” Mélenchon said. “I was surprised to learn this, because in reality we hadn’t spoken about this for a single second. So I deduced that he was afraid of my presence and what might be said. ‘Oh la la, Mr Corbyn, you are an extremist if you speak to M Melenchon’. I had no more explanation than that and I know nothing more.”