Jeremy Corbyn supporters were not disappointed when an entertainer at a fundraiser for the Labour leadership challenger withdrew late in the day last week. Because into the breach stepped practitioner of "socialist magic", Ian Saville.

His tricks include downing a pint of bitter while making a portrait of Karl Marx sing and conjuring money out of thin air (a useful skill for Corbynomics, one might think).

Magic is not the day job for Dr Saville (pictured), who teaches drama at Middlesex University.

When not on the podium, he is helping to promote the "Jews for Jeremy" Facebook page which aims to "counter smears that Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic".

It looks as if it is Mr Corbyn's rivals who will to have start pulling rabbits out of the hat if they are to beat him to the leadership.