Brillo - The Hard-Right Mask Slips

Anyone who still clung to the idea that GB News, the new broadcaster fronted by former Murdoch editor and more recently Barclay brothers placeman Andrew Neil, would show any semblance of political neutrality has now been disabused of that notion. Neil is letting the world know that his new home will be nothing more than another establishment mouthpiece, another outlet for right-wing shock jocks. But on TV.

Now that Brillo no longer has to pretend he is in any way impartial - as he’s left the BBC, to the relief of all those who wished it had happened a lot earlier - he is reverting to type. This was, after all, the man who said of his past “On many of the biggest struggles of [Margaret Thatcher’s] decade in power, the Sunday Times [edited by Himself] stood shoulder to shoulder with her … Thatcher’s battles were our battles”. And there was more.

The sign of Gammon Broadcasting

Nick Davies told in Flat Earth News, still the go-to book on the machinations of the Fourth Estate, “for the sake of his business interests, [Rupert Murdoch] had forged an alliance with Margaret Thatcher; and in order to maintain that alliance, he had imposed a right-wing framework on the [Sunday Times], a framework which well suited the personal politics of the editor whom he then appointed, Andrew Neil”. That’s where he comes from.

Before the fall

So it should be no surprise to see The Great Man Retweeting endorsements from Claire Fox, unrepentant terrorist sympathiser, genocide denier and child porn excuser, and former UKIP stalwart Suzanne Evans, recently seen playing the reverse race card to attack the hated BBC for reminding us about key workers who were not from the UK.

But the most telling reminder that the GB in GB News will mean Gammon Broadcasting has come over school closures. “Hard-left National Education Union opposes schools reopening even if all teachers get a priority jab. Schools clearly an inconvenience for teachers’ union, since they only get in the way of its real passion - political activism. It would help NEA [sic] if we just closed schools forever” he ranted.

Sadly, this was just another pejorative pack of lies from the man who loves to call “liar” on others. Mary Bousted of the NEU put him straight. "What a good story this would be if it were true. But it is not true. The [NEU] does not oppose vaccination of education staff. It is an important part of our education recovery plan. I will send you a link Andrew”.

Not that he’s interested in such things as detail, having continued his rant “French schools have been back since September. Yet fewer new cases since then than UK, fewer fatalities too”. Sounds simple. But, as a little research shows, the French way is anything but. There are provisions in place for some home schooling, and fewer days in class.

That, though, is not where Brillo and his new outlet are likely to be at. Right-wing, union bashing, left-demonising and small state talking points are likely to be the order of the day, declaimed without detail and approved by like-minded “guests”. Alternatively, a few token lefties may be asked to attend, just so they can be shouted down.

The mask just slipped to show the real Brillo. So you can scrub the impartiality.

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