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Wednesday 11 September 2019

Cherry Case - BBC Pol Ed Spins For Bozo

Our alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson has today encountered one of those Little Local Difficulties in the shape of a serious setback at the Court of Session, Scotland’s highest court. That court has ruled the proroguing of Parliament to be unlawful. The decision was a unanimous one, taken by a panel of three judges.
An absolute Muppet. And Elmo from Sesame Street

The BBC has reported thatIn a summary of their findings, the Court of Session judges said they were unanimous in their belief that Mr Johnson was motivated by the ‘improper purpose of stymying Parliament’. They added: ‘The Court will accordingly make an Order declaring that the Prime Minister's advice to HM the Queen and the prorogation which followed thereon was unlawful and is thus null and of no effect.’” Well, well.
And it got worse. “One of the three judges, Lord Brodie, said: ‘This was an egregious case of a clear failure to comply with generally accepted standards of behaviour of public authorities’”. Ouch! But then came the reporting of the judgment.
After previous judgments which our free and fearless press have found inconvenient, there have been some most unfortunate headlines, not least the Daily Mail’s “ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE”, putting judges’ mugshots on the front page, but not suggesting that those opposed to the judgment should take the law into their own hands, oh no.
There was a huge trap for unwary pundits to fall into. Lewis Goodall of Sky News pointed it out: “Yet in the court of public opinion, this will change little. All of our institutions, including the courts, have become less trusted as a result of Brexit. The PM’s team will suggest this is all part of a remainer establishment seeking to thwart the ref. Many will believe them”.
That’s despite the PM and his team being part of that establishment. And that line is already being spun by Downing Street, as the Sun’s non-bullying political editor Tom Newton Dunn told. “Sources in No10 now hitting back at the Scottish judges, suggesting they are politically biased: ‘We note that last week the High Court in London did not rule that prorogation was unlawful. The legal activists choose the Scottish courts for a reason’”.
So it might be expected that BBC correspondents would think carefully. Not political editor Laura Kuenssberg. “Standby for No 10 appeal and political narrative out of Downing St to move to not just People Vs Parliament, but People Vs Parliament and the Judges - might make you engraged [?] but they believed this was likely in late July”. This is a potentially dangerous narrative, though. So why not point that out, too?
Instead, Ms K tells “Official No 10 response ‘We are disappointed by today’s decision, and will appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The UK Government needs to bring forward a strong domestic legislative agenda. Proroguing Parliament is the legal and necessary way of delivering this’ … Downing Street also note that ruling in High Court last week went the other way”. We KNOW what the Downing Street response is. That’s not the BBC’s job.
What the Corporation should be doing is  to report what has actually happened - that the Court of Session has effectively ruled that Bozo The Clown lied to Brenda.

Instead, once again, its political editor tells us “this is the Government’s position”, rather than “this is what happened”. Give us facts - not state sanctioned propaganda.
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8 comments:

Jonathan said...

Laura really should change her job title to reflect her often splendid propaganda for The Tory government.

Lewis said...

This is rather interesting to me because what some people may not realise is that while it is the same in lots of areas Scots Law is ultimately different from English Law, this was set out in the Acts of Union. So a conflict between English and Scottish legal interpretation of the prorogation may be possible and it might even hold up under appeal as there are Scottish judges present to help handle issues related to Scots Law.

I'm certainly not a lawyer but I wonder if the appeal holds and Johnson's administration chooses to ignore the Scottish judgement would that constitute a violation of the Acts of Union and what might the consequences be? It would be a bizarre, embarrassing, and hilarious twist if the United Kingdom was broken and Scotland gained independence by a deluded twit thinking he was above the law.

Anonymous said...

I know of at least one university student club where every Kuenssberg appearance is greeted with gales of derisory laughter. Which redoubles with every far right propaganda word spilling out of her crooked and twisted mouth. But I bet the Georgetown University then CIA Officer in Residence is delighted with her year there......Come on, Laura, don't be shy - do tell......

Lewis said...

Related to my previous comment a thread on twitter from a law commentator.

https://twitter.com/davidallengreen/status/1171717055911014400

Steve Woods said...

"... the Court of Session has effectively ruled that Bozo The Clown lied to Brenda."

Will Johnson, his cabinet cronies and advisers be prosecuted for misconduct in public office (as they so richly deserve)?

I'm not holding my breath.

Gulliver Foyle said...

@ Jonathan

Apparently CCHQ are advertising for a 'Late Duty Press Officer', responsibilities include "Producing detailed media summaries...." with a skill set that includes "Excellent written and transcribing skills".

Maybe someone needs to tell CCHQ that the job is already filled, and that the BBC license fee payer is stumping up the salary....

https://www.conservatives.com/work-for-us/late-duty-press-officer---sept-2019

Anonymous said...

The governments position is news. I want to know what the governments position is and it is the job of news broadcasters to provide that information. These cheap shots at the BBC for their job is getting silly, you're starting to sound like the right-wing press.

Anonymous said...

@ 23:10.

"...cheap shots at the BBC..."

To which the good and sufficient response is, "Yeah, right...How does it feel Beeb?"

Corporate media has been vomiting its far right poison for decades. Drawing attention to it is one way of fighting back.

So the message is "Fuck you, BBC 'News' and Politics. Swallow it."

I hope that's reasonably clear.