As if Jeremy Corbyn's week could not get any worse, he now has to contend with the fact that he's not, in fact, a fictional wizard.

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The Labour leader has seen his party implode over the past few days, with his shadow cabinet resigning en masse over his leadership following the European Union referendum. Following a vote of no confidence (which he lost by 172 MPs), many Labour supporters have been calling on him to step down – including Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who has spent most of the week tweeting about the issue, and arguing with the Corbyn faithful.

Hence the exchange below, in which Rowling rubbishes a claim that Corbyn is like Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

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Being a politically neutral TV listings magazine, we can neither agree or disagree. But one thing's for certain, Britain sure could use a bit of magic right now.

Authors

Stephen Kelly

Stephen Kelly is a freelance culture and science journalist. He oversees BBC Science Focus's Popcorn Science feature, where every month we get an expert to weigh in on the plausibility of a newly released TV show or film. Beyond BBC Science Focus, he has written for such publications as The Guardian, The Telegraph, The I, BBC Culture, Wired, Total Film, Radio Times and Entertainment Weekly. He is a big fan of Studio Ghibli movies, the apparent football team Tottenham Hotspur and writing short biographies in the third person.

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