Countdown star Rachel Riley arrives at court for libel battle with Jeremy Corbyn’s ex-aide

Countdown star Rachel Riley has begun her High Court libel battle against a former senior aide to ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

Ms Riley, 35, who appears in the Channel 4 show Countdown, says she was libelled in a tweet posted by Laura Murray. Ms Murray has disputed the claim.

Mr Justice Nicklin is listed to begin overseeing a trial at the High Court in London today.

Detail of the dispute was outlined in a preliminary ruling published by him in April 2020.

Rachel Riley arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, for a libel case today 

The case is over a tweet from Laura Murray, a former aide to ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

Ms Murray had posted the tweet on March 3 2019, after an egg was thrown at Mr Corbyn, who was then the Labour leader, by a Brexit supporter when he was visiting Finsbury Park Mosque, in north London.

She had been responding to a tweet posted by Ms Riley, Mr Justice Nicklin was told.

Ms Riley had initially retweeted a January 2019 tweet, by Guardian columnist Owen Jones about an attack on former British National Party leader Nick Griffin in which Mr Jones had said: “I think sound life advice is, if you don’t want eggs thrown at you, don’t be a Nazi.”

Countdown presenter Rachel Riley claims she was libelled in a message posted on Twitter

She had added “Good advice”, with emojis of a red rose and an egg.

Later, Ms Murray had tweeted: “Today Jeremy Corbyn went to his local mosque for Visit My Mosque Day, and was attacked by a Brexiteer.

“Rachel Riley tweets that Corbyn deserves to be violently attacked because he is a Nazi.

“This woman is as dangerous as she is stupid. Nobody should engage with her. Ever.”

Ms Riley subsequently sued Ms Murray for damages, claiming that the tweet contained “defamatory statements of fact” about her.

The case continues.