Starmer And The Mail

In the mid-90s, as John Major’s valiant but doomed efforts to hold an increasingly fractious Tory party together merely contributed to the sense of decay, that The Blue Team’s time in power had run its course, even the right-leaning part of the press deserted him. Except for one title: the Daily Mail shilled for the Tories right up to election day in 1997.

Tony Blair and his team wanted so much to have the Mail on side, to at least give Labour a level editorial playing field, but the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre, then as now the driving force behind the paper, was having none of it. And now, with Keir Starmer being cast as Blairite Redux, we have the exact same situation. The Tories are spent, but the Mail still wants the Tories.

It is a truth that those running Starmer’s new-look Labour are, it seems, increasingly reluctant to take on board. For them, all that is needed is to dump all over the party’s left wing, refuse to commit to spending, well, anything over and above what the Tories are spending, spew out plenty of approved soundbites, appear competent and managerial, and they’re in.

Even Owen Jones, whose political antenna are usually well-tuned, has gone all mid-90s: “One of the many reasons the Tories are now cooked is that the media have collectively decided they’re finished. That means media outlets stop worrying they’ll lose access if they’re not deferential enough. They’ll compete over finding scandals to seal the Tories’ fate”. Except the Mail.

Dacre’s unflinching faith in his ability to bend reality to his iron will has resulted today in yet another of those text-book examples of the power of the press lying not just in what they decide to publish, but what they do not. With Birmingham City Council effectively declaring itself bankrupt, mainly over a long-standing equal pay bill of over £750 million, the Mail is off and running.

Today’s Mail editorial kicks off with “A chilling glimpse at life under Labour”. Chilling? How so? “Families have to operate within a budget, as do governments, as do businesses. So why should it be any different for local authorities?” Governments who have control of their own currencies don’t, Mail people, whatever Mrs T claimed in the early 80s. But do go on.

Stop f***ing using my photo so much, c***

“Labour-run Birmingham City Council going into effective bankruptcy with debts of £760million shows a cavalier disregard for the prudent handling of public money” [no citation]. “This is symptomatic of a wider malaise within local government. Birmingham is the fifth English council to issue a bankruptcy notice in recent years, with another 26 said to be on the brink”.

There is, sadly, more: “the culprits are looking to central government for a bailout. Not every ailing council is Labour controlled, of course, but the majority are [no citation] - offering a vision of how life could be with Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street”. Anyone remember Croydon? Thurrock?

Neither being Labour authorities. But the biggest whopper is saved for last: “Since Ken Livingstone’s profligate [no citation] Greater London Council, Labour has been synonymous with municipal waste and sky-high council taxes. The Birmingham debacle shows the party still can’t be trusted to control the public purse strings”. Synonymous mostly because havens of bias and bigotry like the Mail keep telling their readers that.

No mention from the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker that the Tories have imposed round after round of funding cuts on local authorities, all the while having their pals in the press point the finger at Labour. That is what is behind all those potential follow-on bankruptcies. It is also the part that the Mail chooses not to publish. And it won’t get any better for Labour.

One hates to mention the presence of Peter Mandelson for the 94th time, but as soon as the flag drops for the next General Election, the Mail will mention him. And Jeffrey Epstein. And the times he was sacked by Tony Blair. They will give a prominent mention to the Hindujas, cos they’re not white and therefore not The Mail’s Kind Of People. They will shill for the Tories.

For the Dacre doggies, the Tories can be so far to the right they’re falling off the political spectrum. They can be utterly inept, intellectually and politically bankrupt. They can be irredeemably corrupt, bereft of anything but hatred and intolerance. They can get away with blaming all ills on someone else, which usually means the EU, other foreigners, and of course Labour.

That is why Starmer drifting right is pointless. The Mail will still hate him.

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