As the General Election approaches, and opinion poll numbers appear to be moving more in favour of Labour than the Tories, so the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press begins to get more jittery - and print more knocking copy attacking The Red Team. And there is no more shameless repository of knocking copy than the Murdoch Sun, today giving a platform to alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.
The tactic is as old as it is tired: try and link the Rotten Lefties™ with the current régime in the Kremlin. The Sunday Times tried that one with Michael Foot many years ago, and their story didn’t even make lunchtime before it fell apart. The Sun’s Bozo article today is already DOA, thanks to a little investigation from a proper investigative journalist.
But first, let’s hear Bozo in the Sun. “Every time he has the chance, he sides with our enemies. He spent the long years of the Cold War basically on the other side [no citation, and none will be provided] … Nato is an organisation that Corbyn has said he wants to disband [not true] … I don’t think it is to be strong to want to … scrap MI5 [flat-out lie]”.
And there was more. “He said the governments of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - the four nations in the so called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement with Britain - had already expressed their fears [no citation]. The Prime Minister added: ‘A lot of our allies, particularly the Five Eyes, are very anxious about any future collaboration. It is absolutely not a Tory scare story. They have said precisely this.’” Yeah, right.
And, as Jon Stewart might have said, two things here. One, Bozo has been described as a security risk by his own senior colleagues on more than one occasion. Take this from the Murdoch Times during the Tory leadership election: “Boris Johnson ‘is a security risk’ because of his private life, say allies of Jeremy Hunt … Tory MPs backing the foreign secretary say his rival is vulnerable to blackmail by foreign powers”.
Also, this from the BBC: “Downing Street attempted to withhold sensitive intelligence from Boris Johnson when he became foreign secretary … It is understood Theresa May and some in the intelligence community had worries about Mr Johnson's ability to keep information confidential”. Then we come to Bozo’s own Russia connection.
Two, former Panorama stalwart John Sweeney has produced a short video (see it HERE) which shows a part of Umbria where two Russian families own the land around one of the area’s many hills. One of the families is the Lebedevs. The same Lebedevs who own the London Evening Standard, among their other UK business interests.
Sweeney points to the Lebedev Palazzo and observes “a regular guest is Boris Johnson”. Even when he was Foreign Secretary. As he points out, no-one is fussed about what parties Bozo goes to when in Italy. But “here’s the rub … MI6 did … what concerned them was not what Boris was doing, but where he was doing it”. And guess what?
“On at least one occasion … when Boris Johnson came to Italy, he left his Metropolitan Police protection team back in England”. And there is Bozo in the Sun, telling its readers to Look Over There at someone else. The hypocrisy is staggering.
The real security risk is hiding in plain sight. And his name isn’t Jeremy Corbyn.
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Gosh.
ReplyDeleteNo sooner do I mention the possibility of another Zinoviev letter......et voila!
But be careful, Tim. Murdoch goons might accuse you of whataboutery......
Did you know some politicians in the USA say Fox News should register as Russian agents?
ReplyDeleteFox News.
Let that sink in.
Fucking hell, the USA really is a basket case. Insane as a sack full of weasels.
"Nato is an organisation that Corbyn has said he wants to disband [not true]"
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if that is correct. I think there was an article in the Morning Star in 2012.
Arguing against NATO is a perfectly respectable position to take. It was set up to defend us from a Soviet invasion. The only problem is that there is no evidence that such an invasion was ever planned.
The fact that NATO still exists after the original justification has disappeared does suggest that the original justification may well have been false.
@ Anon 14:38
ReplyDeleteI think the Finnish government and other Baltic states may have something to say about that. Finland may feel threatened because they are not part of NATO?
And I don't suppose the Soviet plans to invade Finland back in 1939 were given to them beforehand?
Now Ukraine is having to bargain with Putin about Crimea and the Donbas region having their hands tied behind their back by evident lack of support from Trump.
And as a Finland Twitter user Petri Makela tweets with a pic after Trump's announcement of non support to NATO allies in the case of aggression showing Putin with a caption "Thanks for the INVITATION Donald!"