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Tuesday 11 January 2022

Lockdown Busting And Client Journalism

Hardly had the dust settled on the latest revelation of lockdown rule busting by alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his jolly good pals within Downing Street than the questions began: didn’t any of the lobby journalists know? Why did it take yet another leak for a year and a half old story to finally see the light of day?

Laura Kuenssberg ((c) Guardian)

On top of that, another thought enters: had Labour got across the win line in 2017, would there have been an equally monastic silence from our free and fearless press? Had it been Jeremy Corbyn at Number 10, would the questions have taken a year and a half to be asked? As if you need to know the answer to that one. He’d have been crucified.

Ah, Master Cole

So we already have a case of what looks remarkably like double standards, and that’s before LBC host James O’Brien mused “From Brexit to these despicable parties, the whole administration is built on bullshit, arrogance & shamelessness. What never ceases to amaze is the way his supporters embrace the absolute contempt in which he must hold them. Especially the client journalists”. Would a former editor care to comment?


David Yelland, who has edited papers like the Murdoch Sun, certainly would. “I can easily name ten, maybe as many as 20 UK political journalists who must have known or should have known about this Johnson party. Their editors would fire them. Except some of these mates of Boris are editors. It will all [end] in tears. Ours”. Whoever can he mean?


Well, yesterday evening, outgoing BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg put out this Tweet: “What's also very obvious is that some staffers thought it was a v bad idea at the time - a flavour of messages shared with us from when Reynold's email was sent - 'Um. Why is Martin encouraging a mass gathering in the garden?', another says, 'Is this for real?’” At which point the questions began: what did she know and when?


And it wasn’t just her: talking of the Murdoch Sun, that paper kept Partygate off its front page this morning. And its political editor, the pretend journalist that is the odious flannelled fool Master Harry Cole, can’t claim it was someone else’s call - the front page lead was written by, er, Himself. But he was saying nothing about the illicit party.


Until he grudgingly told “PM sends the Paymaster General Michael Ellis to answer Labour's UQ in the Commons … Hospital pass”. The first intervention from the Sun’s political editor. It’s almost as if the story were being played down to minimise the damage to Bozo. Meanwhile, Krishnan Guru-Murthy observed Ms Kuenssberg’s Tweet and mused “Making it all the more astonishing that it took over 18 months to be leaked”.


It was Guru-Murthy who had been interviewing veteran hack Peter Oborne when the latter named Ms K (and her ITV opposite number Robert Peston) as those who were not interrogating their sources and merely “shovelling on” what they had been briefed. Which led the Tweeter known as My Sweet Landlord to pose yet another question.


Talking of client journalism, when exactly did Laura K get sight of these emails? Remember she was practically taking dictation from Dominic Cummings at the time. Did he not mention that he told Martin Reynolds this party was against the rules?

We are thus far seeing, I suspect, the mere tip of the iceberg. That’s not good enough.


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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

All far right tory gobshites together. Always will be... whichever fat arse sits in Downing Street.

Kuentssberg?....Pfffttt....A Yank-trained propagandist, nothing more. Small wonder she got her head down before this episode was exposed. She and her puppet masters saw it coming.

AndyC said...

I'm certainly no fan of Jeremy Corbyn, but I'm sure that had he been in No 10, even he wouldnt have been stupid enough to have suggested, sanctioned, attended, and then continually lied about such goings on.

AndyC said...

Peston was on ITV news earlier this evening but wasnt asked when he first heard about the latest party, nor if he, or any other journalist he knew, such as LK had attended any of them. I find it hard to believe he and his ilk were unaware of at least rumours and at best had no knowledge of the lawbreaking. Speaking of such lawbreaking, presumably the garden at No 10 has security camera coverage, allowing the police on guard in Downing Street to keep out interlopers or people holding what were clearly regulation-busting events. A dereliction of duty not to have intervened, surely? There really are plenty of rules for all of us and NO rules for our 'betters'.

PMQs tomorrow should be interesting as Johnson continues to treat us with utter contempt, ie lies.

Unknown said...

Corbyn would had more than a crucifixion, the likes of Kuenssberg, Peston & Rigby would be doing Alex Jones impressions and calling for an insurrection by the Brexiteers!

I kid not, Kuenssberg's entire family have strong links to the Tory Party..

Alantatts said...

Even he.....? You mean the man with the lowest expense account in Parliament? Even he.....

Anonymous said...

To 00:51.

https://vocal.media/theSwamp/laura-kuenssberg

J said...

Yeah, every single reporter probably knew about the parties that were going on (on a seemingly daily basis)... and every single one of them, either directly or under the orders of their editors, suppressed the story for fear of damaging Alexander Boris de-Shitfuker Johnson and the tory party.

The only reason now for them going "oh look we found the emails and proof we've had all along" is because Alexander is such damaged goods its better to be rid and put in the next KBF/Qloon/alt-reich/get covid done twat in before it gets to close to an election where they have little chance to turn things around (also they think that if they don't then Cummings will spill more shit; much of which will splash back on them personally).

Re:Cummings... anyone who employs him now, or thinks of doing so, will surely know that is a really bad thing to do because if you look at him funny he'll write boring and barely literate rants on his blog and destroy you and your company without a second thought. I mean if I were a rich boss the last person in the world I'd employ would be Cummings the fish wife.