The media have been abuzz today with details and discussion of Labour’s draft manifesto, which was leaked last night to the Telegraph, Daily Mirror and BBC. The discussions have – as this blog predicted last night – been far more intense, longer and more positive than would have been the case with a typical, scheduled manifesto launch.
So positive, in fact, that some outlets are starting to speculate whether Corbyn himself might have been responsible for the leak:
The manifesto itself is breathtaking in its scope and vision. And as journalist Paul Mason observed:
This is appalling. Millions of people are going to find out what Jeremy Corbyn is promising BEFORE the Blairites try to sabotage it 😜 https://t.co/bnbYXj1v09
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) May 10, 2017
Did Corbyn or his team leak it? Let’s look at a few facts.
If the manifesto leak was deliberate, it outflanked the hostile right-wing media to such an extent that they slipped up and bypassed the usual blocks and filters designed to prevent the Labour leader’s message reaching the public’s ears in its true form – instead giving it massive free and largely positive publicity.
If the manifesto leak was deliberate, it prevented the small section of the Labour Establishment that sees a lost General Election as a price worth paying if it helps them to remove Corbyn and who might try to brief against it before a scheduled launch.
If the manifesto leak was deliberate, it was a move of tactical genius worthy of The West Wing or House of Cards.
If the manifesto leak was deliberate, it won over even usually-entrenched opponents such as the Guardian‘s Polly Toynbee and had ‘on the fence’ journalists salivating.
If the manifesto leak was deliberate, it’s an incredibly bold, smart and intelligent move that puts Corbyn in a league of his own compared to Theresa May and any other party leader.
It’s also notable that the document was leaked simultaneously to the Tory-supporting Telegraph, Labour-supporting Mirror and the UK’s national state broadcaster, whereas a hostile leak would have gone only to the hostile media.
The SKWAWKBOX knows the answer to the question. So, did Corbyn or another member of the senior leadership team leak the draft manifesto as a political masterstroke?
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From Mark McGowan…
“DANGEROUS LOONY LEFT MANIFESTO:
– will think twice before firing nukes
– scrap tuition fees
– More NHS funding
– More social care funding
DANGEROUS LOONY LEFT MANIFESTO 2:
– Increase workers’ rights
– Renewable energy target
– Reduce wage inequality
– Orgreave inquiry
DANGEROUS LOONY LEFT MANIFESTO 3:
– Continue ban on fox-hunting
– Living wage
– No tax increase on bottom 95%
– Increased paternity leave
DANGEROUS LOONY LEFT MANIFESTO 4:
– 100k council houses per year
– Plan to end homelessness
– Rent caps
– Fracking banned
DANGEROUS LOONY LEFT MANIFESTO 5:
– Universal free school meals
– Maintenance grants for students
– Nationalise rail, energy, mail.”
Absolutely fantastic!
Brilliant piece, tantalising too 🙂
Reblogged this on Perfectlyfadeddelusions.
Tell you what, too. Do you remember the last time a Labour leader was able to engage well with ordinary people in an election campaign and promised a new way of doing things, which, in fairness to what had gone before, it most certainly was?
Tony Blair in 1997.
And if you are right about the origin of the leak, then that too is the sort of blindside thinking-on-your-feet that he was once renowned for.
Love love love it
Reblogged this on dainagregory.
Dear Swakbox
I entirely agree with your surmise that this was a masterstroke leak, making sure that the electorate was informed properly and exclusively, with no other manifestos to take attention away from it, of Labour’s ideas and making sure that the Cons were exposed as OUTRIGHT BULLIES in the way their media puppets worded and angled their reports and interviews. John Humphreys, on Radio 4, was utterly and unrelentingly VICIOUS AND MOCKING, revealing incontrovertibly, that he is totally biased against Labour,6 and Jeremy Corbyn in particular. What a confirmation that the Cons are running the medias, and running scared of JC.!!
Is there a way of sharing you article on Facebook??
Yours in applause
Sheelah Goldsmith, St Just in Roseland , Truro Cornwall,TR2 5JB
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I absolutely love this manifesto!…..Please, please get this message out there….If I had the cash I’d have it goldplated..It’s a cracker!..