Whilst as I said the BBC’s coverage of the Tory manifesto, that I saw, hasn’t been a bloodbath there have been a couple of moments when they let themselves down.
I was disappointed that John Humphrys, from a grounded, working class background and supposedly an experienced and professional journalist with integrity, should allow himself to become the frontman for the Labour Party peddling cheap sensationalist left wing smears on the Today programme instead of rigorous journalism when he not only attacked Fallon for his ‘stab in the back’ comment but went on from there to try and tar the whole Tory Party once again with the label of the ‘Nasty Party’ on the basis of that one comment when he interviewed Theresa May (08:10).
So once again let’s look at whether Fallon was justified in his comment or whether Humphrys is justified in decrying him.
Not so long ago the Left were crowing with glee when the BBC’s Eddie Mair launched his attack on Boris Johnson saying…
“And you, having heard that, tell your friend that that you will supply the address. What does that say about you, Boris Johnson? Making up quotes… lying to your party leader, wanting to be part of someone being physically assaulted – you’re a nasty piece of work, aren’t you?”
The Twitterati were delighted.…
Angi Mansi @WorkPsychol Apr 2 Eddie Mair vs #BorisJohnson “You’re a nasty piece of work, and a liar”: https://youtu.be/ZAxA-9D4X3o Irresistable interviewing Eddie.
The BBC were pretty proud of it themselves.
Or how about this...from the BBC in 2010?
If you ever doubted that class was still thought to be important in politics, just look at the number of times the words “Tory toff” appear before the name “David Cameron” in a certain left-leaning tabloid.
And if you want to get a feeling of how powerful this inverted snobbery is, just imagine it the other way round.
What if the Daily Telegraph always prefaced the name John Prescott with the words “Labour oik”? It would sound really mean.
So no problem for the Left when a right wing politician is the victim of a personal attack….why then the outrage when Fallon makes a perfectly reasonable and logical connection between Ed Miliband’s treachery and his possible future actions…selling out his brother for political power, selling out the UK’s defence in a pact with the ‘kingmakers’ of the SNP for the top job?
Does Humphrys have a very short memory or does he just conveniently forget things like this from the left wing Mirror in 2010?….
Ed Miliband’s unworthy of the top job
Ed Miliband – who only 22 per cent of voters expect to win the next election – has been told by the party’s former energy minister, Brian Wilson, he should quit to save the party.
“He should look in the mirror and honestly ask the question, ‘Will the electorate ever assent to me being Prime Minister?’” says Wilson.
Er, this is the man who shafted his own brother to get the Labour leadership, who was prepared to publicly and politically disembowel him in order to grab the top job.
That kind of bloke doesn’t give a stuff what’s best for the party OR the electorate.
And let’s face it – the party always wanted David Miliband, and nerdy little Ed knew that.
But he was desperate for power and was prepared to get into bed with the unions and sacrifice his brother on the altar of his own ambition to get it.
The very idea he’ll do what’s best for the country is farcical because he doesn’t actually know (or care) what the country wants.
And however much he stands on his soapbox and tries to “connect” with people, voters can’t ever get past the fact he betrayed his own flesh and blood in the cruel vindictive way he did.
Someone who does that doesn’t give a toss whether people think he’ll be a good PM.
Pretty damning stuff from the lefty Mirror….Miliband so desperate for power that he publicly and politically disembowelled his brother!
Did anyone else think David Miliband was betrayed by his brother?
The Mail said…..
David Miliband’s wife who still can’t forgive brother-in-law’s Ed’s betrayal.
The sight of the two Primrose Hill-raised Labour apparatchiks engaged in political fratricide was astonishing, and in the subsequent two-and-a-half years, no amount of fine public words or behind-the-scenes finessing has healed that wound.
A black and yellow arrow is the vivid symbol of the International Rescue Committee. You will see it on flags flying over refugee camps from the Syrian borders to the Congo.
Yet it was the poison-tipped missile that thudded between David Miliband’s shoulder blades at the Labour leadership election which most informs his decision to abandon British politics for a place among New York’s glamorous charity elite.
Younger brother Ed was the deceptively geeky assassin with the bow. He snatched the job David thought was his birthright.
The Express said…..
David Miliband’s wife urges him to quit over brother’s ‘betrayal’
Ms Shackleton, a concert violinist, is known to have become increasingly angry at Ed Miliband’s behaviour during the hard four-month campaign.
In the past, she had encouraged her husband to oust Gordon Brown and was angry when his brother talked him out of launching a coup. She regarded Ed Miliband’s unexpected decision to run for leader as a betrayal.
The Telegraph asked if Ed had betrayed Dave…..
I Did Not Betray My Brother, Ed Miliband Says
The Labour leader disclosed how he never believed David Miliband would return to front line politics following their fractious fight for the party’s top job in 2010.
Ed Miliband, 43, denied he had ever promised his 47 year-old brother a clear run to the leadership, a belief that has fuelled a sense of betrayal among David’s friends and family.
The election caused a major rift between the two and he refused to serve in Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet.
So the evidence stacks up against Ed Miliband and the BBC’s narrative…..shame they put that cheap sensationalism before genuine journalism.
Speaking of manifestos, from the following I’d say that Robin Brant doesn’t like UKIP’s:
‘For UKIP devotees it will be an exercise in legitimacy mixed with irrelevance.
They don’t like the party for its broad range of policies. ‘
If Robin Brant left Kensington and actually spoke with a few ordinary Kippers, he might be surprised by how much they actually do like its broad range of policies.
‘Nigel Farage will likely feature on or very near the front page and he either is or embodies all that they like about the party.’
‘All they like about the party’?!?
WTF?
It can’t possibly be the case that some Kipper supporters actually like the party’s policies, can it?
No, we are all mindless zombies, taken in by the charisma of our leader, unable to think for ourselves, enslaved by his brainwashing.
Brant’s analysis was so far wide of the mark that I actually snorted with laughter when I read it in me dinner break.
Does he really think that? How much does he get paid a year for writing such ill-informed drivel?
He’s seriously behind the times, I’d say, if that’s how he sees it. Totally unacceptable for a man in his position at the world’s foremost news gathering organisation.
If I performed as badly as that in my job, I’d get the sack.
It is interesting to note that David Milliband has not offered so far to speak on behalf of his brother during this election campaign. As Kojak might have commented on this situation, “Who loves you now brother?”
Historians will ponder how done deal would have been if he’d been leader.
Even with Ed at the healm Labour still seem in with a chance.
Some may wonder what would be needed to lose.
Still, the BBC has the only commitment that matters to them.
Ed did stab his brother in the back. The majority of Labour MP’s wanted David as leader and it seemed to be a done deal, but Ed was sneaking around behind their backs promising McClusky a share of power should he cast his block and decisive vote in his favor. An so it came to pass another weird incompetent in the mold of Brown and Foot has become leader of the Labour Party. God help us should he succeed in becoming PM.