The exposing of people like Dominic Cummings, flagrantly breaking the lockdown while his political masters tell the rest of us not to, has led not only to public revulsion against the Tories, but has also engendered a spate of desperate whataboutery from those out there on the right, the assertion that the Rotten Lefties™ were at it too.
And in one case, the desperation has spilled over into deliberate defamation of a Labour MP by a right-wing fringe group wanting to score a little attention for themselves. The result is not going to be a good one for them, not when their claims could have been easily disproved merely by engaging in the mystical art known as Five Minutes’ Googling.
Tony Lloyd MP
To no surprise, the attack has come from Turning Point UK, a spin-off from the US parent headed by the slick, leering, repellant, overbearing racist bigot Charlie Kirk. TPUK got off to a bad start with a monumental gaffe by Candace Owens, whose claims about Adolf Hitler would have failed a modern history GCSE. The organisation was so poisonous that even Fawkes teaboy Tom Harwood disassociated himself from it.
Now they have gone after Labour MP Tony Lloyd,
who is recovering from a lengthy hospital stay after becoming infected with Coronavirus. In a “
look over there, not at Dom” move, they have told followers “
Labour MP Tony Lloyd travelled from London to Manchester with Coronavirus symptoms … Where’s The Media Witch-Hunt?”
Sadly, someone at TPUK failed to do their research. So let’s put this shower straight.
One, Lloyd lives in Manchester, and represents a Greater Manchester seat (Rochdale).
Two, travelling from London, where MPs work, back to Manchester is part of his job.
Three, his last such journey before entering hospital was on Thursday March 19th -
four days before the lockdown was ordered.
Four, there is no evidence he was symptomatic at the time of that journey.
It’s just attention-seeking drivel. And although TPUK has shown that it is of less than perfect courage by deleting the Tweet and hoping no-one took a snapshot, the Internet never forgets, and nor do the eagle-eyed, like John O’Connell of Far Right Watch.
“
Source for this, please? When did it occur? Where does it say he had symptoms? I can find nothing … NB: He works in Manchester and works in London so if this trip even happened I imagine he was going home, not a 560 mile ‘jolly'. Just more Right Wing BS?”
And Evolve Politics has put them straight: “
The far right ghouls at Turning Point have just libelled a Labour MP who almost died of Coronavirus. Tony Lloyd never travelled from London to Manchester whilst symptomatic. He clearly states he was in Manchester the entire time he was ill in an interview with The Guardian”.
Maybe TPUK should quit pretending and wind up their ill-advised foray into UK politics. That’s after they’ve had their arses sued off them for that deliberate libel.
What a shower.
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Sue them, Tony.
ReplyDeleteDon't go all Corbyn and allow allsorts of spurious & vituperous claims to go unchallenged. That's what ultimately cost Corbyn his leadership.
Sue, no offer of retractions, no nothing. Sue the friggin' pants off them, like they would you.
Have not seen this, just seen them attacking SNP westminster leader ian blackford.
ReplyDeleteNone of them are throwing the same microscope at Scottish tory MP Andrew Bowie.
Lloyd has been the target of a prolonged hate campaign by a local fash group here in Rochdale called 'parents against grooming'. They are ostensibly a charity based in Rochdale town centre but they spend most of their time disseminting crude fash propaganda. I have often wondered how they fund their operation...
ReplyDeleteEveryone with a car has been at it.
ReplyDeleteThose of us who rely on public transport have been subject to the stasi at every turn. They won't even let you sit down while you wait for your bus and don't even think of getting on an empty train.
But should I point out it was the left, specifically the unions, that started such bullying tactics. So it is a bit rich to cry foul when your sword is turned against you, even if you are sure of your rightousness!
We will generally be less convinced of our righteousness than you. Your magisterial condescension. Pretty rich.
DeleteYour intervention was not necessary Anon. It added nothing to this discussion and at no point involved the truth, but at every point involved lies. No one thanks you, no one listened.
Delete@11:40
ReplyDelete"But should I point out it was the left, specifically the unions, that started such bullying tactics."
Did you misplace the first person singular?
Anyway, bullying tactics have been more of a rightwing / authoritarian thing for centuries. Millenia, even.
Good point, it's all about semantics and upper sixth posh boy rhetorical word games now, but ultimately nothing has changed, who benefits?,(council estate blokes like me don't use Latin.)
DeleteDom Cummings has got his Troll Army out in force online and out onto the airwaves..
ReplyDeleteThis is what slavish defenders of Cummings/Johnson do. Attempting to compare what Cummings did with others who broke lockdown rules, whether they actually did or not. What they never seem to indulge in, however, is comparing Cummings' actions to those of people such as Prof. Neil Ferguson who at least resigned from his govt position.
ReplyDeleteI'd contribute to a crowdfunded libel case against Turning Point UK for Tony.
ReplyDeleteWhat sleazebags. Do name them please.
Booty & Beast, one can trace the start of all this back to 2013 and the tactics employed by UNITE. I suppose they must have thought others where too decent to then employ similar tactics against the left.
ReplyDeleteEh?
Delete