Sun Latest Corbyn Smear Busted

Another week has brought another alleged “exclusive” to the Super Soaraway Currant Bun, courtesy of its “Westminster Correspondent”, the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole, formerly tame gofer to the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog. This latest steaming pile of bullpucky is, predictably, an attack on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and, equally predictably, it is totally untrue.

Behold a 24 carat dickhead

Master Cole has homed in on the campaign group Momentum, which claims that it is aiming to build on Corbyn’s successful leadership bid, but which has proved controversial with some in Labour, and especially those on the Blairite wing of the party. Momentum has been described on occasion as “a party within a party”, with 1980s scare stories and visions of the Militant tendency being regularly cited.

This makes Momentum an easy target for lazy commentators, and Cole is no exception, telling readers “Lefties in MP hate … EXCLUSIVE: Corbyn supporters warn Labour opponents”, and going on to claim “SUPPORTERS of Jeremy Corbyn have promised to give moderate Labour MPs ‘nightmares’ if they threaten his leadership, The Sun can reveal … The threat came in a menacing letter warning against toppling him”.

Really? Do go on. “The campaign group Momentum warns: ‘We will vote for him again in numbers that will give you nightmares … Key organisers of the controversial group dubbed ‘a party within a party’, wrote in a vicious online rant: ‘Labour will be unelectable until the PLP get behind Jeremy, and we don’t mean with a knife in their hand … If you really did believe Jeremy to be unelectable, you’d stop with the briefing and the sniping”.

So who is behind this less than vicious opinion piece? “The Bromsgrove branch of the group posted the menacing ‘open letter to disappointed Blairites’ on their Facebook page … Maybe you are hoping a coup will cause us to leave in a huff. Well good luck with that because we are not going anywhere … We are here for the long haul, till 2020 and beyond. Our heels are well and truly dug in”.

The thought occurs that the Momentum branch in overwhelmingly Tory Bromsgrove may not be the most significant part of the organisation. And so it came to pass that The Week gave us the real story: the letter “is … from the pro-Corbyn blogger Chelley Ryan, who describes herself as a mother of three, a grandmother of one and a Labour party member ‘committed to helping Jeremy Corbyn become prime minister’”.

It gets worse: “She is not a member of Momentum”. Oh dear, Master Cole! So “the campaign group Momentum” hasn’t warned about anything, no “key organisers” were involved, writing the letter had nothing to do with Momentum’s “Bromsgrove branch”, and there was certainly no “menace”. The Sun’s newest non-journalist has once again been caught with his pants well and truly on fire. It’s getting to be a habit, isn’t it?

When will Master Cole bring the Sun an “exclusive” that is actually true? We’re waiting.