Sun Corbyn Rugby Smear Busted

Those who thought that the shameful, dishonest and potentially actionable story claiming that Jeremy Corbyn gave £45 to an alleged IRA fugitive to help him escape justice was the only excess of the Murdoch Sun’s latest recruit, the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole, will find that thought misplaced: Master Cole has also been smearing the Labour leader because he had the audacity not to turn up at Twickenham on Friday.

Smile sleazebag, yer pants are still on fire

Cole may have thought he was on a winner with “BORIS TACKLES ‘NATIONAL JOKE’ CORBYN FOR RUGBY SNUB … Labour leader ducks out of singing national anthem again”, only for the former tame gofer to the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog to see another of his piss-poor pieces of research - that’s as in “no research at all” - unravel in short order in the face of reality.

Corbyn was invited to attend the opening match of the Rugby World Cup, celebrating a sport that few of his constituents care about, and hardly any of them play. He did not take up his free ticket, not because the National Anthem may have been sung before kick-off, but because he was conducting his monthly walk-in constituency surgery, an exercise which went on for well over seven hours.

Cole did not give the proverbial rat’s arse about such niceties: “Boris gives Corbyn both barrels for snubbing England game last night despite invite... ‘a national joke’”. Yeah, right. London’s increasingly occasional Mayor calls someone else a “national joke”? That’s yer cred down the toilet. But do go on. “Claims JC was too busy to represent Labour at World Cup. Understand Boris also held surgeries yest but made game. So that's that spin shot”.

Au contraire, Master Cole, that only shows that Bozza is less fussed about his constituents than being seen at the Raggah. Would Sir like to dig himself in deeper? You betcha, says Sarah: “Like St Paul's on Tuesday, it's not about JC, it's about his role representing the Labour Party. All leaders have obligations”. Very good, flannelled fool, and actually correct for once. Corbyn does indeed have obligations.

And, as a serving MP, his first obligation is to those who elected him, not a bullying, overmonied gobshite from the Murdoch press. So when Cole blusters “Jeremy Corbyn was not invited on Tuesday or last night as Jeremy Corbyn. He was invited as Leader of the Opposition. A job he is shunning”, he is, not for the first time, ranting from a position of thundering ignorance. His view was not universally shared.

Tim Stanley of the Telegraph was one of them: “Corbyn skipped the Rugby World Cup... to attend his constituency surgery instead. Respect”. The intellectual bankruptcy of Cole’s positon was underscored when one of the few voices to speak up for him was his fellow Sun pundit, (thankfully) former Tory MP Louise Mensch: “not much respect. Monthly?? Monthly? MPs do weekly surgeries. Now LOTO expect change but backbencher?”

But she didn’t know what the heck she was talking about either. Jeremy Corbyn looks after his constituents first. They like that. It shows that he is genuine and sincere, unlike Master Cole, a pathological liar and weapons grade shit of the lowest order.

Still, that level of venal dishonesty will probably get him promoted, so that’s all right, then.