ONE of Wales’s most revered miners and socialists has snubbed fellow countryman Owen Smith to campaign for Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour leadership contest.

Tyrone O’Sullivan, an influential figure in the National Union of Mineworkers during the 1984-85 strike who shot to national prominence when he led a workers’ buyout of Tower Colliery, says he will repay the “real comradeship” received from Mr Corbyn during and after the famous dispute.

His endorsement for the Labour leader is a blow to Mr Smith, who has made his connection with the miners’ strike part of his campaign to appeal to Mr Corbyn’s left-wing supporters.