Seasoned politics watchers will remember the Murdoch press claiming during the Summer that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was “too frail” to lead the Labour Party, let alone be Prime Minister. This, as I noted at the time, was a complete turkey cobbled together by the Times under its tainted and indeed infamous editor John Witherow.
It was Tory Party propaganda under another name. And now that the General Election is less than four weeks away, the Jezza health scares are starting up again, this time with another untrue and indeed malicious pack of lies invented by Tom Harwood, replacement teaboy to the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog.
No paper has yet been desperate enough to pick up on this lame invention yet, but with Labour securing several front page headlines this morning with the party’s announcement on bringing free broadband to the population - and saving consumers £30, or even more, a month in the process - the knocking copy will come as surely as night follows day.
Behold a complete and utter shit
After all, the Mail has already gone into full Labour-bashing mode this morning, such is the desperation to see off The Red Team. So what is the latest fictitious claim chez Fawkes? Under the pretentious heading “Guido Investigation”, which usually means spending ten minutes Googling rather than two or three, we are told “Fresnel Prism Lens Points To ‘Corbyn Having A Stroke’”, with the supporting article claiming “Westminster has been loudly whispering about Jeremy Corbyn’s health; specifically, whether he had a stroke”.
Backed up by what evidence? Well, none, actually: the only citations Harwood ponies up are the fictitious Times claim (see above) and another unsubstantiated rumour pitched by the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker, this time in the Mail on Sunday.
But do go on. “Labour briefed that Corbyn’s muscle weakness was causing him to squint. Photos clearly show Corbyn’s problem is much more than a squint. His right eye has visibly fallen - something that is often a sign of a stroke”. Except his right eye has not “visibly fallen”. But we are assured that “One Labour source told Guido at Labour Party conference this was a clear sign of a stroke”. Yeah, right. Carry on.
“The lens for his right eye - clearly seen in the pictures above - is called a ‘fresnel prism’ lens. Fresnel prism lenses are given to stroke victims’ to help with double vision that is often caused by a stroke”. Fresnel Prism lenses correct diplopia. Which can be caused by a whole range of ailments, some of them relatively minor.
For instance, one cause of diplopia is sinusitis. Jeremy Corbyn has had an audible sinus problem for some time. That isn’t a stroke. Nor do the Fawkes photos show any drooping of the right eye, which Harwood claims. There is no credible citation provided to stand up any of the claims made, with even the headline claim having to be placed in quote marks because it can not be substantiated. This is pure malice, but predictably so.
After all, this is the same blog that made a number of disgraceful claims about former PM Gordon Brown, none of which were ever substantiated. Harwood is continuing in that same tradition, hoping the Murdoch press will take up his story in the coming days.
All the “dirty campaign” predictions are coming true. And it will only get worse.
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5 comments:
Bell's Palsy is another condition that can cause a droop in the face. This is astonishingly contemptible.
You think that's bad?
Wait until "Laura"* gets into her stride. And the Heil(s). And the Scum. And the Torygraph. And the Brexpress. And ITN. And Sky. And all their bought-and-paid-for propaganda clerks.
And that's not even a full list of the lying getts.
*See any Bozo BBC "interview".
Get ready for the mother of all smear campaigns over Labour's free broadband offer and most especially from Rupert Murdoch's minions who have already started on Twitter.
Australia now has a piss-poor internet service (it's faster in places like Bali) after Kevin Rudd & Aust. Labor launched a $40B national broadband scheme as one of his major policies offered during the election campaign in 2007.
But once Labor was rolled Murdoch leaned on the then PM Malcolm Turnbull to downgrade the NBN using old wiring so he would remain dominant in providing cable TV services. For his reward Turnbull was stabbed in the back anyway and now small & big business along with millions of residents are stuck with an appalling service-landlines are now connected to it, with endless dropouts and a shoddy service.
Labour's policy of free broadband to British households is a brilliant announcement as even government services will increasingly be delivered via the internet let alone a superb boost for business but I wager Murdoch will be merciless as it deprives him in so many ways of dominance in delivering information.
Jeremy was up here in Lancaster, in rude health,full of confidence and delivering a fantastic new policy that would provide free fibre optic broadband to all in the UK..
But you can tell the Tories are scared they send their mates or teaboys from Fawkes' watering hole to come up with some knocking copy.
Except Bozo the Clown keeps putting his foot in it and doing even more stupid stunts or getting chased away.
Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. The other day I watched a documentary about Bush's election in 1989 and how they weaponized the fact the democratic opponent had depression, making it sound as though they were a risk.
Neoliberalism is of the abyss.
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