Last night’s NEC election results focused on the shocking election of Peter Willsman, a man dropped from the Momentum slate, disowned by media savvy Corbynistas like Owen Jones, Ash Sarkar, and Matt Zarb-Cousin after his rant about the anti-Semitism crisis being faked by Jewish Trump supporters. Little attention has been given to the person who topped the poll, Yasmine Dar.

On this video from last year Dar is celebrating the Iranian Islamic Revolution, a regular annual event for her which Guido reported on last year. The Iranian regime is built on a foundation of the corpses of enemies and has no greater enemy than Israel, a nation that they have many times promised to “wipe from the face of the earth”. Iran competes with North Korea among the dregs of states which systematically violate human rights. Amnesty International reports document the harsh penalties for “un-Islamic behaviour”, most famously the death penalty for same-sex relationships. This is the regime she celebrates, her “happy time” with holocaust deniers, anti-semites and conspiracy theorists.

Dar won seat on the NEC, the governing body of the Labour Party, after topping the poll with 88,176 votes, an astounding margin of victory for someone without a significant national profile. The Manchester Labour councillor attached herself to Andy Burnham’s campaign for leader when he was a favourite to win the leadership, she swiftly switched to Corbyn once she saw the way the wind was blowing. Two weeks ago Facebook announced it had taken down coordinated campaigns originating in Iran. Some 254 Facebook pages and 116 Instagram accounts with more than a million followers across the two services. Facebook said the network of propaganda sites was linked to Press TV, the station which for years employed Jeremy Corbyn as a front man. According to analysis “This influence operation linked to Iran aims to promote political narratives in line with Iranian interests, including anti-Saudi, anti-Israeli, and pro-Palestinian themes.” No evidence has been uncovered to suggest that Dar was a beneficiary of Iran’s extensive social media efforts.

Is her margin of victory shocking? Yes. Is it so surprising in the context of a party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who was for years in the pay of the Iranian state…