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Sunday 24 October 2021

Tory BBC Interference BLATANT

It is the apparently genuinely held belief of former chief Downing Street polecat Dominic Cummings that 80% of those who work in our free and fearless press are just more of those Rotten Lefties™. The thought entered this weekend that his view may be more widespread within the Tory Party as the race to succeed Laura Kuenssberg as political editor of the BBC began, and the Tories had one of those giveaway moments.

Julian Knight MP

When Andrea Jenkyns, who is supposed to be representing the West Yorkshire constituency of Morley and Outwood, wibbled “Oh mister Wokeman, We will continue to take a stand against you and your anti-Britsh, anti-free speech agenda. Socialism is not the answer and time will demonstrate what a real idiot you are! #ProBrexit, #ProBoris, #ProTrump” at LBC host James O’Brien, it showed the world one disturbing trend.

Andrea Jenkyns MP

And that is the morphing of the Tory Party from a political project to keep the establishment in power (but keep a handle on normality), into a hard-right reality-denying cult modelled loosely on the GOP - hence Ms Jenkyns’ use of “Pro-Trump”, suggesting she may not have wanted to accept the result of last year’s US Presidential Election.


Moreover, the BBC’s problem - quite apart from having a DG who gives every appearance of pointlessly appeasing the Tory cult - is that every significant appointment they make will be viewed through the same warped prism as that used by Ms Jenkyns. Which brings us to Julian Knight, whose Twitter bio reminds us that he has been returned to Parliament by the voters of the West Midlands constituency of Solihull three times.


Knight has declared that the next BBC political editor should not merely genuflect in the general direction of alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, but that whoever is appointed should become part of the apparently cultish behaviour exemplified by Ms Jenkyns. As the Guardian has reported, “A senior Conservative MP has said that if Laura Kuenssberg steps down as the BBC’s political editor, the corporation should consider replacing her with somebody ‘much more pro-Brexit’”.


He wibbled “In front of our committee, [BBC director general] Tim Davie could not name any senior person he had employed during his watch who supported Brexit. Maybe this is a chance to correct that”. But as Keith Flett pointed out, “As a long time supporter of Public Service Broadcasting I'd like someone who I couldn’t tell from their reports where they stood on the matter”. The political editor is not supposed to be a party cheerleader.


And despite Knight having been a journalist before being elected to Parliament, former FT editor Lionel Barber was unimpressed. “I never thought I would hear a serious politician demand a Brexit litmus test for a top BBC reporting job like the replacement for [Laura Kuenssberg]. Tories like Julian Knight have gone full Orban. They clearly have no idea about journalism or the reputation of the BBC”. Today Orbán, tomorrow Trump.


Which brings us back round to James O’Brien, who responded to the news of Knight’s declaration enthusiastically. “Excellent idea. The process should be public & every applicant should submit a list of 100 benefits of Brexit”. If they can find any.

Julian Knight and Andrea Jenkyns are welcome to disappear down the rabbit hole. That does not mean the national broadcaster should be obliged to follow them. Hint.


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6 comments:

Arnold said...

Answerable to the DM but not to the BBC. Hmm.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10121827/Why-did-palace-cover-truth-Queen-Aides-accused-misleading-nation.html
Why did palace cover up the truth about the Queen? Aides are accused of misleading the nation after trying to hide the Monarch's hospital stay


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10124325/Backlash-against-BBC-man-questioned-Buckingham-Palace-undermined-public-trust.html
'Since when has she been answerable to Nicholas Witchell?' Public backlash against 'infuriating' BBC man after he questioned whether Buckingham Palace undermined public trust by not revealing the Queen was in hospital

Anonymous said...

Britain went "full Oban" in 1979.

It has been dragged closer to overt fascism with each passing year since. It now has virtually no moral fibre and a one party Parliament rubber stamp like the US Congress.

It's not hard to make a reasonable guess where this will lead a nation with its eyes wide shut.

Mr Larrington said...

“Anti-Britsh”, Ms Jenkyns? That’s a fine level of potatriotism you display. Get in the cannon.

Hayley said...

Umm you might want to fact check this Tim.

According to your screenshot Andrea Jenkyns tweet was in september 2020. Trump lost the election in November 2020.

At the time she used the hash tag trump was still president. The reason "she may not yet have accepted the result of [the] US Presidential Election." is at the time of the tweet the election hadn't happened yet

Anonymous said...

Where's the problem?

Britain is a far right racist capitalist state.

The BBC is the state broadcaster.

Ergo.....

iMatt said...

I do trust Ms Jenkyns is no longer pro-Trump in the light of what happened to her colleague Davis Amess. After all, we say elements of the right-wing media attempting to link Angela Rayner's 'Tory scum' comments with his murder.

Given how Trump has threatened violence against his critics, used glib references to blowing someone away on the streets of NY, and encouraged the Jan 6th insurrection, I do trust Ms Jenkyns has dissociated herself from Trump.