Mail Nazi Denial BUSTED

The assault on anyone wanting regulation of our free and fearless press to be properly independent from editorial and proprietorial interference is not limited to the papers, but has spread to their hangers-on, those bottom-feeders in the media food chain who depend on the patronage of the Fleet Street establishment for a little extra money and cachet. One such is the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog.

Comparing the Daily Mail to Nazis ... HOW DARE THEY?

To this end, Staines’ newly anointed teaboy, Alex “Billy Liar” Wickham, has penned an attack on IMPRESS, the only truly independent press regulator, in which Wickham, as so often, talks well, but lies badly. Under the title “Guido Investigation”, which means Wickham poring over the Twitter feeds of his targets, and doing a few minutes’ Googling, readers are told “State-Backed Press Regulator Wants To Ban Daily Mail”.

This, we are told, is “The IMPRESS File”, though I doubt it would be worth completing Form L101 over it. IMPRESS is not “state-backed”, and it doesn’t want to ban the Daily Mail. Can Wickham make it three lies in a row? He certainly can: “Having secured official recognition in October, it now wants to force newspapers which do not join up to face legal penalties”. It doesn’t want to force anyone to do anything. Wrong again.

Worse for the teaboy, he knows full well that a Re-Tweet is not an endorsement, merely someone sharing something they consider others may want to see. And that is his only source for the claims about the Mail. Worst of all, Wickham’s biggest beef with those involved with IMPRESS is the claim that they have Re-Tweeted content which call out the Mail for its tendency to fascist apology, which he calls “loopy”.

Moving right along from the usual Fawkes mental health smear, this has to be a piss-take. No-one can seriously talk of “loopy comparisons between the Daily Mail and the Nazis”. There is nothing even controversial about comparisons between the Daily Mail and the Nazis - the Mail has considerable previous in the area. The paper, on occasion, is even prepared to admit that its 1930s proprietor was an admirer of Adolf Hitler.

The then Viscount Rothermere was memorably photographed with the Führer. He penned the notorious “Hurrah for the Blackshirts”. His paper published articles such as “German Jews Pouring Into This Country”. Rothermere wrote approvingly of the Third Reich, and how Jews had been removed from positions of authority in national and local Government across Germany. He was one of the appeasers, one of the Guilty Men.

Yet here is “Billy Liar” Wickham telling the Fawkes blog’s readers that to compare the Daily Mail and the Nazis is “loopy”, and to use this totally untrue claim to smear anyone involved with IMPRESS, on the off-chance that his real masters, the press establishment, will see their way clear to throwing him a biscuit. What a desperate nobody he is.

Still, it shows even more clearly the level of desperation to which the press and their pals are prepared to sink in order to retain the status quo - lording it over the little people, and marking their own homework. Another fine mess, once again.