Tonight, as the latest hustings between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith took place, McDonnell swung behind Draper and said the suspension “appears to be part of a clear pattern of double standards”.
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Mr Corbyn then apparently found an unreserved seat to sit in as he travelled on the three-hour 11am Virgin Trains service from London King’s Cross to Newcastle on August 11. The staff on the train are absolutely brilliant, working really hard to help everybody.
Mr Corbyn responded: “It’s an enormous honour to be selected and elected as a Labour member of Parliament”.
In a sometimes ill-tempered debate Mr Smith went on to claim the Labour leader is “happy” about the Brexit vote.
Relations are also in deep freeze with the Labour deputy leader, Tom Watson, whom Corbyn supporters suspect of trying to rally support behind the scenes for Mr Smith.
Mr Rose’s wife and two children were then coincidentally seated opposite Mr Corbyn on the Virgin train from Euston to Glasgow, where they were travelling to spend a few days with Mrs Rose’s parents.
However, the biggest clash came on Europe when Mr Smith accused Mr Corbyn of weak leadership, of never supporting Britain’s membership of the European Union and even questioned whether the party leader had voted for Remain.
“And I say to him, if he’s so concerned about protecting workers’ rights why on earth would we allow the Tories to implement a Brexit deal which is going to see workers’ rights in this country sold down the river?”
Mr Corbyn’s campaign spokesman said there were coats and bags on the seats which indicated people were sat there.
Mr Draper said he was “disgusted and in shock” after receiving a letter saying he was suspended pending a hearing, a move which will prevent him voting in the leadership election.
The reality is there’s not enough trains, we need more of them, and they’re also incredibly expensive.
Labour Leave campaigners later described Smith’s pledge as “electoral suicide”.
TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes accused Virgin of being “disingenuous” and said Mr Corbyn had “highlighted this daily travel blight which means people sit on floors on trains every day because of overcrowding”.
Party sources retorted that his claims were baseless and he was just trying to stoke up passions among Mr Corbyn’s backers.
Mr Corbyn was immediately the subject of many jibes on social media under the hashtag #traingate.
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Meanwhile, Corbyn’s leadership campaign manager Sam Tarry earlier told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he believed that Richard Branson had initiated the row in order to protect his company.
