“CORBYN refuses to meet the Queen,” the Torygraph screamed out yesterday in the latest attempt to eke out political mileage from the Labour leader’s supposed crimes against monarchy.

All he had done was to decline politely an invitation to attend last night’s meeting of the Privy Council because of prior engagements.

The propaganda arm of the Tory Party also regurgitated old gossip about Corbyn “refusing” to sing God Save the Queen at the Battle of Britain commemoration service and his failure to confirm that he will kneel to the monarch or kiss her hand.

In the twisted minds of those who run much of Britain’s media, the only way to show patriotism or respect the armed forces who defended Britain against fascist invasion is by grovelling to hereditary privilege.

Those who elected Jeremy Corbyn to lead the Labour Party didn’t do so on those grounds.

They backed him in the belief that he offered a genuine alternative to the self-seekers, warmongers, expense fiddlers and long-winded purveyors of bugger all that have cluttered up Parliament for too long.

Despite some fellow Labour MPs trying to tie him in knots by asserting the primacy of existing policies and seeking to erode the policies that made him electable, Corbyn remains true to his principles.

He is still a republican, still a socialist, but he recognises that we do not live in a socialist republic.

The ruling class has constructed a constitutional framework designed to reflect its priorities and interests and requires opponents to abide by bizarre rituals as the price of participation.

Every elected MP has to take an oath of allegiance or affirmation of good faith to the reigning monarch and their heirs and successors.

It is as meaningless as the undertakings given by individuals and organisations in the former Soviet Union to recognise and accept the leading role of the Communist Party in all aspects of life.

The undertaking lasted as long as there was a price to be paid for rejecting it.

Whether Corbyn ever bows the knee or allows his lips to brush the Queen’s fingers is irrelevant as a guide to his beliefs or principles. He will do whatever is necessary to enable him to carry out his role as Labour leader.

Mindless billionaire media chatter about the Labour leader delivering a “snub” to the Queen is nonsensical.

He is barely a couple of weeks into his new job, having addressed a hundred rallies in a short time, and will have the task of leading Labour in Parliament next week when it reconvenes.

Is it unthinkable that he might have felt the need for a short break or less arduous campaign commitments to recharge his batteries before tackling the most viciously right-wing Tory government in recent memory?

David Cameron and George Osborne have already shown their colours, slashing tax credits for low-paid workers, calling time on low-rent council housing and backing policies to make poverty more widespread.

Cameron even took a leaf out of the Daily Mail’s catalogue of slurs against Ralph Miliband by slandering Corbyn as custodian of a “security-threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating ideology.”

The Tory leader’s squalid insult will set the tone for Tory media attacks on Corbyn, but his hysterical over-the-top abuse merely confirms the threat to this vile government that a real anti-Tory alternative poses.

The best antidote to Cameron’s lies about Labour and its leader is to continue telling the truth about him and his government dedicated to the richest 1 per cent.