Sunak Fined - Look Over There

Nothing better illustrates the rank hypocrisy of our free and fearless press than their attitudes to party leaders facing Police investigations. The desperate attempts to establish equivalence between disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson being fined over Partygate, and Keir Starmer not breaking Covid rules, were legion.

What d'you mean, they won't let me back into the USA?

Those labouring within the Northcliffe House bunker under the less than benign direction of the Mail titles’ editor in chief, the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre, were prepared to lie to order, telling readers that Bozo’s birthday cake “remained in its Tupperware container”. Starmer, meanwhile, had to be guilty because, er, Angela Rayner was there. And they had a curry.

How different it all is today, now that the boot is, once again, so firmly on the other foot. Bozo’s ultimate replacement, Rishi Sunak, who also copped a fine over Partygate, was given a fixed penalty notice for failing to wear a seatbelt in the back of a car. As he was over 17 years old, the responsibility for wearing one was his, and his alone. The BBC duly covered the story.

“Lancashire Police said it had issued a 42-year-old man from London with a conditional offer of a fixed penalty. No 10 said Mr Sunak ‘fully accepts this was a mistake and has apologised’, adding that he would pay the fine … It is the second time Mr Sunak has received a fixed penalty notice while in government”. So what of the Tories’ cheerleaders at the Mail and Sun?

As if. While the sole Labour backing tabloid, the Mirror, puts Sunak sans seatbelt on its front page with the withering headline “Law-Breaker PM No 2 … ANOTHER FINE MESS … Sunak punished for seatbelt blunder video … Rap comes months after Partygate payout”, the Mail claims Labour is the party in trouble. “LABOUR’S WOMAN PROBLEM” it thunders.

Nah, it's just something on Twitter

Which is a bit rich coming from the paper that invented a malicious and totally untrue claim about Ms Rayner, claiming that she did a “Basic Instinct” at PMQs to distract Bozo (whoever is leading for the Tories cannot, in fact, see the “below the waist” part of their opposite number, due to the furniture and dispatch boxes getting in the way). So more Mail hypocrisy, then.

Meanwhile, the Sun has splashed the King over its front page, with an allegedly exclusive story concerning the wearing of silk stockings and breeches at his upcoming Coronation. Put another way, this is a nothing story, very few of the paper’s readers will care, and it’s just desperate distraction. The editorials don’t do any better. Especially the Sun’s.

Taking only third spot in today’s Sun Says rant, and titled “Crime Wasters”, readers are left in no doubt that He Didn’t Really Do It. “WITH crime soaring [no citation] we can only marvel at police rapidly investigating the Prime Minister for momentarily not wearing a seatbelt in the back of a car”.

Can you now? Do go on. “Yes, Rishi Sunak made a mistake as he filmed a video clip”. See, it’s only a MISTAKE. There is more. “And the cops have made all the Tory-haters on Twitter happy by issuing him with a fine. But would they be so enthusiastic about pursuing a burglar? Fat chance”. Yes, the old Fraser Nelson Spectator ploy - it’s just something on Twitter.

I say it didn't f***ing happen at all, c***

The Mail goes one better, talking about Sunak, not mentioning the fine, but instead reassuring readers that the Tories may still win the next General Election: “all is not lost for Rishi Sunak. With boldness and the rediscovery of his Tory instincts, he has a puncher’s chance of hauling his party back into contention. Top of his agenda must be promoting growth. Sky-high business and personal taxes are choking the recovery”. Criminal record? Not as such.

On they drone. “The Prime Minister must also fulfil his pledge to tackle illegal immigration … Many of those arriving illegally manipulate human rights laws to stay. To end this scandal, the PM must be willing to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. Finally, Mr Sunak must push through tough laws to compel unions in key public services to provide a minimum level of cover during strikes”. Illegally manipulate laws? Yeah, right.

But enough. When it was Starmer not breaking the law, the Mail and Sun were screaming the house down, effectively demanding that the Labour leader be prosecuted because they said so. Now that Sunak has been caught breaking the law for a second time, it’s either trivial or didn’t happen.

The Tories and their press pals are joined at the hip. The rich gaslighting the rest of us to maintain the status quo. Don’t fall for it come polling day.

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