Has Jeremy Corbyn changed his tune on Europe?

Mr Corbyn insisted there was “nothing half-hearted” about his decision to back calls for Britain to stay in the bloc this week.

But he added: “Over the years I have been critical of many decisions taken by the EU, and I remain critical of its shortcomings; from its lack of democratic accountability to the institutional pressure to deregulate or privatise public services.

“So Europe needs to change. But that change can only come from working with our allies in the EU. It’s perfectly possible to be critical and still be convinced we need to remain a member.”

Just how big a critic of Europe was he?

1975: Jeremy Corbyn revealed in an interview with Reuters last year that he had voted against Britain staying in the European Economic Community. Some 67 per cent of Britons voted Yes.

The admission worries pro-European Labour MPs, who are concerned their new leader might back Brexit.

1993: Corbyn rails against the Maastricht Treaty from the back benches, saying the agreement that created the European Union and the single currency was all about establishing a European central bank.

He adds: “The imposition of a bankers’ Europe on the people of this continent will endanger the cause of socialism in the United Kingdom and in any other country.”

2002: Corbyn is one of the 34 Labour MPs and peers who form the Labour Against the Euro group.

2003: He attacks the draft European constitution over a clause calling for closer integration on military capabilities. Mr Corbyn, by now a leading anti-war campaigner said he was “alarmed that the warmongers are attempting to create more power and influence”.

The real purpose of a European army would be to provide protection for commercial interests and a local force for Nato (US) to take place elsewhere in the world.

2005: Corbyn returns to the theme of military co-operation in Europe in his Morning Star column. He writes: “The left in Europe should remember our history. No country is free from the taint of colonial exploitation and the atrocities that the scramble for Latin America, Asia and Africa brought about.

“The real purpose of a European army would be to provide protection for commercial interests and a local force for Nato (US) to take place elsewhere in the world.”

2005: French voters reject the EU Constitution. Corbyn calls it a “victory for the left” and calls for a “common platform across Europe that unites the left against the constitution”.

2008: Corbyn votes against the controversial Lisbon Treaty, which replaced the draft constitution thrown out by voters in France and the Netherlands.

The European Union has always suffered a serious democratic deficit and the new positions would make the situation even worse.

2009: In a Morning Star article, he opposed the idea of making Tony Blair President of Europe. Corbyn wrote: “The European Union has always suffered a serious democratic deficit and the new positions would make the situation even worse.

“The creation of the post of president is a triumph for the tenacity of the European long-sighters. The project has always been to create a huge free-market Europe, with ever-limiting powers for national parliaments and an increasingly powerful common foreign and security policy.”

The Eurocrats are presiding over an economic realignment at the expense of all the progress made by the working class over the past 50 years.

2011: Corbyn says European Central Bank policies have “forced unemployment, recession and poverty on Greece and others like Spain, Portugal and Ireland”.

He adds: “The Eurocrats are presiding over an economic realignment at the expense of all the progress made by the working class over the past 50 years.

2016: It emerges that articles critical of the EU are no longer available on Corbyn’s website. Among them is a piece saying the EU “authorised the plunder of natural resources” when it did a deal with Morocco over fishing rights off the coast of the disputed Western Sahara region.