***Article first published by 'The Sun' on Feb. 14, 2018***

JEREMY Corbyn met a communist spy at the height of the Cold War and warned him of a clampdown by British intelligence, according to secret files obtained by The Sun.

Mr Corbyn was vetted by Czech agents in 1986 and met one at least three times — twice in the Commons, it was claimed.

Earlier today a spokesman for the Labour leader said he met a diplomat, but never knowingly talked to a spy.

But expert Prof Anthony Glees said: “It shows breathtaking naivety from someone who wants to head the British Government.”

The Soviet-backed spies had a simple code-word for their new-found comrade Jeremy Corbyn: COB.

According to secret files, he passed on material about the arrest of an East German and was allegedly put on a list of Czechoslovakian state security team’s agents and sources.

Reports noted in 1986 he was: “Negative towards USA, as well as the current politics of the Conservative Government.”

His attitude towards Eastern Bloc countries was “positive” and he was “supporting the Soviet peace initiative”.

And he was “very well informed” of people in contact with “anti-communist agencies”, according to the files.

The files obtained by The Sun are also likely to be in the hands of Vladimir Putin’s Secret Service.

He dismissed as a smear any claims he was an informant and said he had never “offered any privileged information to this or any other diplomat”.

But Cold War expert Professor Anthony Glees, of the Oxford Intelligence Group, said: “These files show Jeremy Corbyn had been targeted by Czech intelligence services.

“Mr Corbyn says he didn’t know, but it shows breathtaking naivete from someone who wants to head the British government.

“These files show there was contact between Corbyn and a Czech intelligence official, even if he did not know it.

“At the time dissidents were under attack and being imprisoned in Czechoslovakia. In the struggle between the dissidents who were trying to overthrow the communist government and the Czech government, Corbyn is working on the side of the Czech government.

“The Czechs were interested in anti-communists and they are using Corbyn for immediate operational information useful to them.”

Czechoslovakia, then a puppet state of the Soviet Union, relied on a secret police force known as the Statni Bezpecnost or StB.

Mr Corbyn was allegedly sought out because they believed he was well informed about “persons who are in contact with the anti-communist agencies” — potentially other politicians understood to be working for MI5 and MI6.

The papers claim he was vetted by agents and met one, Lieutenant Jan Dymic, at least three times including twice in the Commons.

The files, unearthed from the StB archive in Prague, indicate he was initially approached in 1986 through activists Tony Gilbert and Sandra Hodgson of the ultra-left wing Liberation movement.

The four are said to have met on November 25 in the Commons.

In his report, Lt Dymic states Corbyn “showed interest in further meetings”.

An assessment of the first contact including the heading: “Interests, hobbies, behaviours, pres-entation, personality traits”. The note reads: “Owns dogs and fish.

“Behaviour is reserved and courteous, however, occasionally explosive (when speaking in defence of human rights), though the performance is calm and collected.”

Spies noted his phone number and home address, then Finsbury Park, North London.

A memo marked “Top Secret” and dated December 9 is titled: “Jeremy Corbyn — Contact established.”

The files say in January 1987 agents in Prague authorised his vetting and he was signed off by the head of department in the Czech Ministry of Interior. Two months later he was given the codename COB.

A second meeting was said to have been held on July 3 in the MP’s constituency office alongside a member of the Czech Communist party’s central committee.

More Commons talks with Lt Dymic on October 24 were dclaimed to have followed “to strengthen mutual recognition and the deepening of trust”.

The Czech is then said to have raised concerns in the 90minute meeting over British intelligence actions against their own agents and allied East German spies in the UK.

Mr Corbyn allegedly provided a copy of a Sunday People article about a bungled MI5 investigation into suspected Stasi spy Ulrich Kempf — and warned of possible increased British security measures.

At the end of the meeting, according to the files, Dymic proposed to carry on with Corbyn and focus “on issues along foreign counter-intelligence and the so-called high-risk areas”.

At this point the StB archive breaks off and there is no further material recording contact with Mr Corbyn.

But the files claim he was the 326th coded source listed in Operation Obrana — meaning “defence”.

Prof Glees said: “It’s one thing for people to be naive and go to a cocktail party and drink too much.

But to have a series of meetings at which hot political topics are discussed including persons who are in ‘contact with anti-communist agencies’ is naive.”

Former Czech Republic military intelligence chief Andor Sandor, who joined the Czech army in 1986 and served as a military attache in the UK in the 90s, said: “These kinds of operation are typical.

“The Russians had first deployed their SS-21 missiles in Europe during the 80s and America deployed Cruise missiles in the UK.

“These officers would be working undercover in the Czech embassy in the UK and would approach left-wing politicians who supported the peace movement. They tried to establish contacts with left-wing politicians and Labour was a very left-wing party in the 80s.”

Tory grandee Malcolm Rifkind, a former chair of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, said: “If these documents are genuine, which they appear to be, then there is a serious case for Mr Corbyn to answer.”

However a spokesman for Mr Corbyn insisted: “The claim that he was an agent, asset or informer for any intelligence agency is entirely false and a ridiculous smear.

“Like other MPs, Jeremy has met diplomats from many countries. In the 1980s he met a Czech diplomat, who did not go by the name of Jan Dymic, for a cup of tea in the House of Commons.

“Jeremy neither had nor offered any privileged information to this or any other diplomat.

“During the Cold War, intelligence officers notoriously claimed to superiors to have recruited people they had merely met. The existence of these bogus claims does not make them in any way true.”

The Sun told in October how a secret file on Mr Corbyn was held by East Germany’s Stasi secret police.