He need look no further than the experience of Tony Blair: although the main man of New Labour won round the Murdoch mafiosi - after considerable grovelling to Creepy Uncle Rupe - the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker, then as now under the jackboot of the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre, remained immune to his charm. The Mail kept on kicking Labour.
It is a lesson Starmer and his gofers appear to have difficulty taking on board. Perhaps, after perusing the lead story in today’s Mail on Sunday, they will appreciate the scale of the challenge before them: “Secret plan by Starmer to hit the well-off by cutting their access to GPs, libraries and bin collections … LABOUR’S CLASS WAR ON MIDDLE BRITAIN” thunders the headline.
Is there a “secret plan”? Is there buggery. The MoS lead story is a flat-out pack of lies from start to finish. Consider some of the claims. “Labour was last night accused of declaring 'class war on Middle Britain' over shock plans to slash public services in affluent areas”. THERE ARE NO PLANS. “[Starmer] faced claims he was plotting a 'hard-Left attack' on the wealthy”. Claims.
This would involve “diverting resources from rich areas to poorer postcodes - affecting access to GPs, school places and even bin collection”. Which is also made up. The logic here? “The radical plans, included among draft proposals for Labour's Election manifesto, would extend equality laws covering race, age, gender, disability and sexuality to include 'the inequality of social class’”.
All the MoS has to go on is this: “The far-reaching proposal being circulated to party members and trade unions is concealed in dry jargon that pledges to enact 'the socioeconomic duty under section 1 of the Equality Act' and 'conduct equality impact assessments of major announcements’”. And the former minister prepared to act as MoS talking head is Jacob Rees Mogg.
That would be the same Jacob Rees Mogg who would have no idea how the average Mail reader lives, or indeed, what a cost of living crisis looks like. He is obscenely rich, not through anything so demeaning as manual work, but by playing the markets over recent decades, in person or as a manager or partner of a variety of investment and fund management vehicles.
But he does have a high public profile. There will no doubt be others. And the point is a straightforward one: Today’s MoS article, packed with falsehood and misinformation, will be repeated several times a week - when there aren’t any Slebs to monster - until the General Election. Starmer can do as much left-bashing as he wants: it will make no impression, and no difference.
If the Mail titles can stop Starmer getting into Downing Street, they will do whatever it takes. They can’t trust him to do their bidding in the way the Tories do. And today’s slice of rank dishonesty shows just how little factual material that need to go off on one. Even when Labour leaders have been on good terms with the likes of Dacre - pace Gordon Brown - it made no difference.
Stop pandering to the right-wing press. It’s like smacking yerself in the mouth.
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3 comments:
Starmer, Murdoch, Rothermere, Dacre and the other righties (far, near and "centrist") all deserve each other. Which is why the next general election is a sham of democracy.
Driscoll, whatever his politics, would do well to disconnect from the whole phony masque.
Sooner or later the rotten scenery is going to collapse. But the tragedy will continue to be paid for by those stupid enough to pay the entrance fee.
“Labour was last night accused of declaring 'class war on Middle Britain' over shock plans to slash public services in affluent areas”
Labour was accused though. By the Mail reporting its own accusations. It often uses the word "reportedly" when reporting its own fantasies too.
Surprised to see the guilty parties actually getting bylines rather than hiding behind “D**ly M**l Reporter”.
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