A Jeremy Corbyn ally has defended the foreword the Labour leader wrote for a book which argued that European banks were controlled by Jews. In a new edition of economist JA Hobson's Imperialism: A Study, published while Mr Corbyn was a backbencher in 2011, the MP described the work - written in 1902 - as "brilliant, and very controversial at the time" and "a great tome". In defending Mr Corbyn Rebecca Long-Bailey said, “Jeremy was commenting on a political thinker of that time, rather than endorsing the comments”. Report by Blairm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn