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Oborne & Hearst aren't @UKLabour Party members. They care greatly about accurate, truthful journalism, fair play & decency. Oborne has worked for the Spectator, Telegraph & Mail.
"Corbyn was never the monstrous figure presented to the British people." https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/killing-jeremy-corbyn
"Corbyn was never the monstrous figure presented to the British people." https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/killing-jeremy-corbyn
They believe everyone should be concerned about the picture painted of Corbyn by the British media for four years.
He was never a Marxist. He was not hell-bent on the destruction of Western capitalism. He was a socialist. Nor was he an antisemite. Nor was he a divisive figure.
He was never a Marxist. He was not hell-bent on the destruction of Western capitalism. He was a socialist. Nor was he an antisemite. Nor was he a divisive figure.
Throughout his entire parliamentary career, the mild mannered, infuriatingly calm Jeremy Corbyn had never failed to excite strong emotions - until he became @UKLabour leader.
He didn't change. The press and his ideological enemies simply embarked on character assassination.
He didn't change. The press and his ideological enemies simply embarked on character assassination.
For his many very vocal & influential enemies, he failed to unite the @UKLabour party, sent too many contradictory messages on Brexit, didn't successfully deal with Labour’s antisemitism problem & went down to a catastrophic defeat in the 2019 general election.
For his supporters, Corbyn tripled party membership, making @UKLabour financially independent of powerful forces, banished austerity, shifted the mainstream political discourse leftwards, & presented a genuinely radical alternative to the quagmire of post-industrial capitalism.
One of Corbyn’s problems was he was too soft with his internal enemies as he tried to unite the @UKLabour Party. He possessed personal decency & authenticity - scarcely acknowledged amidst the thousands of hatchet jobs conducted against him in the press. the wider media & online.
Lie after lie was told about Corbyn, day after day, month after month.
For four years very few journalists bothered to do their job to fact-check the claims and report fairly on him.
Tom Bower’s book "A Dangerous Hero", contained a farrago of falsehoods & misrepresentations.
For four years very few journalists bothered to do their job to fact-check the claims and report fairly on him.
Tom Bower’s book "A Dangerous Hero", contained a farrago of falsehoods & misrepresentations.
As the election loomed, much of the press presented Boris Johnson as a national figure & saviour of the nation - as big a lie as anything told about Corbyn.
Johnson, unlike Corbyn, is guilty of making offensive racist comments, & in his grotesque novel, antisemitic stereotypes.
Johnson, unlike Corbyn, is guilty of making offensive racist comments, & in his grotesque novel, antisemitic stereotypes.
A group of Jewish academics & campaigners pointed out that one of Johnson’s novels invoked one of the most pernicious antisemitic stereotypes when he describes "Jewish oligarchs" who 'run the media, & fiddle the figures to fix elections in their favour'. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/11/boris-johnsons-record-of-bigotry-antisemitism-and-far-right-politics-must-not-be-forgotten
Corbyn has devoted his life to anti-racism & has repeatedly stated that antisemitism is an evil, tolerated & accepted for far too long in Britain. The fight against this scourge should not be party political, nor should the fight against racism be confined to racism against Jews.
Racism against any religious minority is unacceptable in our society and for that reason #Islamophobia should just as ardently be hunted down and identified - wherever it appears.
The two campaigns should go hand in hand. They should be in lockstep.
But they aren’t.
The two campaigns should go hand in hand. They should be in lockstep.
But they aren’t.
Once he'd won the election, Johnson adopted a number of Corbyn’s policies which he had previously denounced as unworkable fantasy: abandoning planned cuts in corporation tax, announcing plans to nationalise Northern Rail & announcing £100bn funding for infrastructure projects.
The columns & stories in the British press & the output of broadcast news & politics shows still carry a lot of weight in influencing/shaping public opinion. It’s hard to see how any decent person following the "news" over the last four years could have possibly voted for Corbyn.
The coverage was so hostile that Corbyn said he would “not want to live on the same street” as the man he read about in some newspapers. The media abandoned any form of the objectivity or fact-checking they apply to almost everyone else. Accusers became judge, jury & executioner.
There was no due process, no independent inquiry after the facts, no suspension of judgement until the facts were uncovered. Within seconds, the accusation became the new reality. This was lynch mob justice.
The mob have got their way & Corbyn is now back on the back benches.
The mob have got their way & Corbyn is now back on the back benches.
This episode should concern all of us. ALL MPs should ask themselves what they would do, how they'd feel, if the same tactics were used against them.
Mob politics threatens democracy itself because without truthful & honest public discourse, dark forces make their presence felt.
Mob politics threatens democracy itself because without truthful & honest public discourse, dark forces make their presence felt.
