Jeremy Corbyn had a tantrum when he discovered he didn't have an electric
election battle bus, a new book has claimed. The former
Labour leader was said to have grown disgruntled after travelling to
Liverpool to for the unveiling of the party’s battle bus, only to discover that it was run on diesel. An aide said Mr Corbyn had a “tantrum” after the discovery and text staff to say: “I see the [diesel] bus appears which I hope does not get too many negatives. As soon as rest of grid and operation notes are available can I get them so I can know a week ahead what is being planned and other requests that may appear can be factored in.” His annoyance was said to be fueled by the fact that Jo Swinson, former leader of the Liberal
Democrats, had an electric battle bus. In Labour’s manifesto the party had promised to outlaw diesel busses by 2030. In response Marsha Jane Thompson, an aide in Mr Corbyn’s office, said: “Once we win we can mandate investment in electric buses!” According to the book Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour under Corbyn, Ms Thompson then contacted the senior management team
WhatsApp group to say: “JC unhappy that lib dems have an electric bus.” As a result Mr Corbyn had to travel the country by train, which meant phone reception was unreliable. It was suggested that his lack of access to schedules and ‘grids’ during the campaign became a sticking point for the former leader, who began to insist he be dialed into conference calls at the start of each day, despite his large workload.