Murdoch P&O Hypocrisy

Much of what passes for journalism from our free and fearless press used for so long to depend on readers not having long enough memories to call out the regular U-Turns and flexible principles from the unappealing roster of hacks and pundits. Even in the online age, the tendency to routine hypocrisy has continued, and today was no exception as the Super Soaraway Currant Bun went literally overboard in no style at all.

After P&O Ferries, nowadays a subsidiary of Dubai-based DP World, temporarily ceased operations, then sacked its 800 UK seafarers, so they could be replaced with cheaper foreign labour, there was widespread condemnation, as well as very little action by alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his coterie of ineptitude, other than to dispense yet more hot air. Even the Murdoch Sun was unimpressed.

“Ferry Chiefs Slammed … What a bunch of anchors! Fury As P&O Axe 800 Staff” howls the front page headline, with the paper also declaring “The company was labelled ‘appalling’ after it brutally axed 800 crew members over Zoom on Thursday … [staff were] reportedly given just ‘five minutes to get their stuff and get off the ship’”.

There was more. “Security teams in balaclavas were then drafted in to remove P&O staff - some given just five minutes to gather gear from quarters … RMT boss Mick Lynch branded the sackings ‘one of the most shameful acts in the history of British industrial relations’… one P&O worker slammed the Dubai-owned firm for ‘stabbing us in the back’”.

So firing workers with little or no notice, after making sure a business has cheaper labour from elsewhere in place, is clearly A Very Bad Thing Indeed. Which puts the inmates of the Baby Shard Bunker in one of those Very Difficult Positions, because that is exactly what Rupert Murdoch did in 1986, and with the blessing of the UK Government.

Rupe wanted to move his papers to direct input technology, which would have made thousands of print workers redundant. Negotiations failed; the print unions were reluctant to concede ground in a Britain where millions were already unemployed. Unbeknown to the unions, Murdoch had a new facility ready to go at Wapping, out in London’s Docklands. He sacked the print workers; Mrs T helped him win the ensuing industrial dispute.

The labour savings made by the Murdoch empire, plus the lower cost of being in Docklands rather than the old Fleet Street, enabled Rupe to score enough profits to later help him establish Sky. The inability of unionised labour to prevent the excesses of his editors, though - notably the deeply unpleasant Kelvin McFilth - had its downsides when the Sun fell out of favour on Merseyside, a market it has never regained.

But the idea that the Murdoch press is suddenly sympathetic to workers being sacked and replaced by cheaper labour from elsewhere is for the birds. 800 members of the workforce being dumped on the employment scrapheap doesn’t faze those on the 13th floor - after all, their predecessors cheered on far greater job losses when they were backing Mrs T.

The Sun wants its readers to believe it cares. But its bosses couldn’t give a shit.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by becoming a Patron on Patreon at

https://www.patreon.com/Timfenton