THE late Labour leftwinger Tony Benn once helped to start a singalong in a parliamentary tearoom with US communist singer Paul Robeson, Jeremy Corbyn has revealed.

The former party leader Mr Corbyn was speaking at a Labour Grassroots online event, newly renamed Castaway, on Wednesday night, during which he listed his favourite music and books to an audience of about 470 people.

One of his musical choices was a soulful rendition of Ol’ Man River by Robeson, a bass-baritone singer, actor, political activist and former lawyer who was blacklisted in the United States during the McCarthy era of anti-communist persecution.