This morning Guido reported Chuka Umunna was seeking an unpaid intern to work in his office for a year. This afternoon Corbyn’s office has emailed all Labour MPs warning them that it is against Labour Party policy to employ unpaid interns:

Afternoon Briefing: Thursday 31 May

Colleagues,

Please see below a message from the Leaders Office:

This is a reminder to all MPs that it is against Labour Party policy to employ unpaid interns. As part of our 20-point plan for security and equality at work, set out in the 2017 General Election Manifesto, we have pledged to ban unpaid internships.

Chuka has doubled down and insisted he is right to offer the unpaid placement as it is part of a supported university scheme:

“Unfortunately, IPSA do not provide additional resources for MPs to recruit interns on a paid basis, though the Parliamentary Labour Party has always argued strongly for them to do so. I strongly believe that interns should be paid and, for that reason, I do not have any unsupported interns working in the office despite the many requests received. For many years, my office has only accepted students undertaking work experience as part of supported university schemes, or short work experience placements from the schools in my constituency.”

Clearly Jezza doesn’t agree…