Right-wing Labour MP Jess Phillips wrote a bizarre article for The New Statesman, provocatively titled “Conference was brilliant – until the antisemitism and victim-blaming started”.
Ms Phillips angers many Labour members by articles in which she attempts a ‘pally’ style while making statements such as,
“[Left-wing men] are the worst, the actual worst…They are literally the worst.”
Presumably Ms Phillips forgot about the well-known groups of men most of us would immediately think of if we were trying to come up with groups of men who are ‘literally the worst’ for women.
But this latest Statesman article has what looks like an unintended effect – an admission that Labour is great when you see the real thing and only looks any different when you look at it through the filters that the ‘MSM’ (mainstream media) wants to apply.
Take this, for example, in which Ms Phillips describes her experience when she was at the Brighton conference in person – emphases added by the SKWAWKBOX:
The difference was jarring. John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Keir Starmer all spoke while I was there, but as I was not in front of a TV or in earshot of a radio until 1am each night, I can’t say anything other than brief headlines reached me.
What I did experience was lots of enthusiasm and lots of people talking really passionately about changing things that are broken. I met brilliant people I will meet again in the future. I heard some superbly simple policy ideas from ordinary members, organisations and businesses. I ate dinner with economists who live and breath every tiny detail of possible models for Brexit, and marvelled at their insights.
I laughed a lot and featured in hundreds of selfies. I sat down with people from the leaders office and talked over plans for the future and how we can avoid pitfalls. I drank pints with people I’m meant to hate and listened to their plans, I hoped for their success. I heard rallying cries and desperate pleas. I felt no hostility, not even the tiniest bit. I pulled selfie faces with as many people with Momentum badges as I did those without.
Labour in person was vibrant, welcoming, forgiving, positive.
But when she leaves – for some reason after only two days, perhaps ‘selfied out’ – and starts to watch and listen to events at the conference through the MSM prism:
Then I departed. As I became an observer of events, I picked up on the story of Laura Kuenssberg needing a bodyguard because of concerns for her safety. This in itself started to chip away at my feeling of hope…But the fact that she needs this to attend the Labour party conference…hurt me especially deeply.
…I have spent years of my life, and thousands of words and speeches fighting against the idea of victim blaming. I have begged people to believe women who have or are being abused. I thought we were getting somewhere. In the Labour party, if I am honest, I thought we had got there and were in the arrivals hall waiting for others to join us. Turns out I was wrong.
Only it doesn’t turn out you were wrong, Jess – you’re now just believing what the MSM says about Labour instead of being there to see for yourself.
The claim that Laura Kuenssberg needed a bodyguard appears to be based on a single report in that bastion of truth and objectivity The Sun, which was then propagated as fact by other MSM all too eager to portray the left as dangerous bullies. In fact, while reports of Ms K with anyone who might have been a bodyguard are sparse in the extreme, reports of her seen without one are commonplace. Here are a few:
Ms Phillips talks – she seems to love a bit of hyperbole – of ‘victim-blaming’. But being criticised for bad journalism or bias is not automatically victimisation. Certainly any abusive messages Laura Kuenssberg has received – they seem usually to be claimed by the media rather than evidenced – pale in comparison with the tirade directed daily at, say, Diane Abbott – more of her later.
A petition against Ms Kuenssberg with tens of thousands of signatures was pulled by 38 Degrees for supposed abuse when apparently there was just one abusive comment. So there appears to be a track record of exaggeration.
Ms Phillips begs us to ‘believe women who are being abused‘. Of course – but as far as can be ascertained, Ms Kuenssberg herself has never claimed to need a bodyguard. Just the Sun – and that rag does not get to be believed just because it’s claimed something. In fact, shame on those who believe it in the absence of any actual evidence from trustworthy quarters.
Never mind such inconvenient details, though – to Jess Phillips, the bodyguard is ‘the fact’ while her opinion of the motivations of people who tweeted about Ms Kuenssberg’s apparent nonchalance around Conference is also treated as reality.
The reactions are as bad as the fact that Kuenssberg has a bodyguard. They are the same reactions that almost every victim of gendered violence and abuse suffer.
The most distasteful thing in all this is the (actual) fact that Ms Phillips is right about victims of gendered violence and abuse suffering – but has shown no evidence that Laura Kuenssberg has suffered such abuse, beyond an uncritical acceptance of a claim by a vile right-wing rag.
The criticism directed at Laura Kuenssberg is, overwhelmingly, just that: criticism – for her perceived appalling bias. Her gender has nothing to do with it, for all but a tiny number of maladjusted people worthy only of condemnation. Most of those who criticise her just consider her a journalist demonstrating a bias in favour of a party they consider contemptible.
However, there is a clear tendency among those on the right to consider criticism directed at them and their allies as automatically ‘abuse’ – yet to minimise or dismiss real abuse directed at those they disagree with.
Which brings us back to Diane Abbott.
Jess Phillips told the Statesman:
It seemed that for many who got in touch with me, speaking out against violence and abuse waged at women means only when it is our kind of women, and only so long as they are not being abused by our kind of people.
Ms Abbott receives half of all the abuse directed at UK politicians – and it is the vilest, most disgusting half. Yet the MSM got itself in far more of a lather over her mentioning on TV that she is daily called ‘n****r’ than it does over the fact that she is called it.
Not only that, but the abuse she receives – as her harrowing testimony during a commons debate made absolutely clear – is clearly and unquestionably ‘gendered‘ and absolutely hideous.
Ms Phillips went to the trouble of writing a whole article on the criticism directed at Laura Kuenssberg. Where are the articles damning the abusers of Diane Abbott?
Ms Phillips famously told Diane Abbott to ‘f*** off’ and was filmed laughing heartily at an arguably racist imitation of the Shadow Home Secretary.
Where are the articles damning the abusers of Shami Chakrabarti when she was subjected to vile abuse over her report on antisemitism – including from right-wing Labour MPs?
Where are the articles defending Emma Dent-Coad, who has been abusively mobbed this week over a throwaway joke about the royals? Where was the article – beyond a veiled criticism – defending Laura Pidcock when she was ganged up on by the MSM for saying Tory MPs are the enemy?.
But it’s only left-wing Labour members who only intervene on behalf of the ‘right’ kind of women. Apparently.
Ms Phillips’ intervention is interestingly timed, coming just after a triumphant Labour conference for both Jeremy Corbyn and the left in the Labour Party, when spurious accusations were once again thrown at the party.
You’d almost think some people wanted to take the shine off the triumph.
But if read with an open mind, the net effect of Ms Phillips’ article is simple, whether intended or not:
See Labour for yourself and it’s incredible. Believe what you read in the papers, see on TV or hear on the radio and you might be persuaded to think otherwise.
Jess Phillips said so herself – and she tried both this week.
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Every anti-Labour article in the MSM – including the Staggers and Grauniad – simply serves as a reminder of who Labour can trust, and who they can’t.
We know losers when see them!
Lies, mischief and provocation simply confirm the need for non-MSM sources which can always be trusted … such as this one.
One sad and ever-present aspect that characterises her bleatings is this tendency towards self-referral and a bloated sense of her own status in the grand scheme of things.
Me, myself, I, my, mine, etc. etc. etc.
We’ve all met people like this. I went to a packed out funeral recently. It was for a very popular and funny man I worked with for 5 years some time ago.
The brief list of half a dozen egotists, psychopaths and narcissists who poisoned the same workplace almost exactly matched the brief list of those who did not attend on the day and had more important things to do.
We know what you are Phillips, as you complain and posture to the crowd, and I personally will take some comfort watching you attack, gripe and bellyache yourself into obscurity.
Yep. ‘Brand phillips’ in it’s nauseous extremity.
She’s no doubt taken inspiration from a certain ex-footballer (Him what fell on his arse and gave it to demba ba 😀 ) who’s exactly the same whenever he’s on the Tv or in the paper.
Great article, Jess Phillips is turning out to be an attention seeking troll with no value to anyone but the people she servers … and certainly isn’t Labour voters or party. She needs to think very carefully where this path is taking her and assess if it’s worth the money she gets from the scum papers like the Sun.
I never waste my time with anything Jess Phillips has to say. She’s just an attention seeker. We have enough of those primping themselves in the Tory party without paying any heed to this “Look at me” person too.
Stab her in the front Sent from my Vodafone Smart
There appears to be a group around the JLM Mike Katz, John Mann MP ( allegedly an MI5 puppet), John Spellar MP, Dave Prentice and Mark Furgeson of Unison, Jess Phillips and Sadiq Khan (I’ve heard called the Jacob Zuma of the Labour movement) with Jo Coburn as the BBC spokesperson for them, that peddle this lie. I was deeply impressed with the JVL who spoke well at conference and hope the Unite union affiliate.
Despite the recent accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party by Jess Phillips and others, not one person has been able to substantiate the claim.
I was at all of the meetings at which Miko Peled spoke and I can confidently say there was no antisemitism. In fact there was an announcement from the floor that if anyone thought there was any antisemitic comments they should speak up – no one did.
The only antisemitism I have heard in the Labour Party is from the Zionist Jewish Labour Movement – JLM, who have accused Jews who reject Zionism of not being Jews. It was for this reason that there was a call for the antisemitic JLM to be expelled from the Labour Party.
Non Zionist Jews have had enough of the actions of the right wing JLM and are now organising to fight back against them, hence the phoney outburst of accusations of antisemitism from the JLM and other Zionists inside and outside the Party.
When any member of the Party sees or hears any suggestion of antisemitism, they should tell the accuser to justify the accusation or shut up.
The Irony is that the JLM hate Jeremy Corbyn because of his support for the Palestinians yet the Labour Party indulges them through the patronage of Tom Watson and Iain McNicol to continue with their attacks on ordinary Labour Party members.
Blair and others bowed down to the JLM because through them they were able to raise funds. We have nearly 600k members now contributing to the Party, therefore we do not need to seek hush money, nor do we need to keep quiet about the actions of groups like the JLM and LFI whose main reason for being in the Labour Party is to protect the actions of apartheid Israel.
JESS PHILIPS, A WOMAN FOR ALL SEASONS!
AS LONG AS THEY DON’T INTERFERE WITH HER OPINIONS!
HOW THE (mighty) FALL OFF THE TINY PEDESTAL THEY MAKE FOR THEMSELVES!
ET TU BRUTE!
NOT THIS TIME PHILIPS!
Jess Phillips has no reason to complain about anything not in light of what Diane has had to endure. If she was so concerned about women being subjected to abuse why did she abuse Diane so openly? I’m with Wirralinittogether. It is all about Jess Phillips. For all her talk about women being abused she shows not a shred of real concern about women. Just disagree with her on Twitter and you will find yourself blocked. Why? Because she only wants hundreds of luvvies to support her views. In some ways I feel sorry for her as she has so little self awareness. This is not an MP who really cares passionately about Labour. She spends most of her time on MSM who she apparently despises. Just utterly astonished how she ever became an MP.
Great article Skwarkbox. and you are absolutely right no evidence of any PBG for Ms K. One man who was shown as a possibility seemed to wander off with another woman. No one who did see Ms K saw her with anyone let alone a PBG. And you are right it isn’t an attack on her as a woman, it is an attack on her appalling reporting. No one in their right mind could ever be persuaded that Ms K is a bona fide “journalist!”
I’ve said this several times on Twitter, that when gorgeous little John Cole was Chief Political Correspondent for the BBC, no-one knew his political leanings. He was Mrs T’s favourite. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago it was discovered our Belfast boy was, in fact, member of the International Socialists – formerly Socialist Labour League; Original breakaway from Labour Party!!! He’s epitomised everything that was good about BBC then. Ms K et al come nowhere close.
Excellent point about the very professional John Cole.
I don’t think it’s any accident that the BBC has moved to the right. This article in the Independent shows it. However, the author Ivor Gaber, prevaricates and fails to fully accept his own findings.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/bbc-bias-jeremy-corbyn-labour-centre-right-robbie-gibb-theresa-may-laura-keunssberg-andrew-marr-a7844826.html
What an ill advised and very silly woman Phillips is. Still give her enough rope and it’s only a matter of time before the MSM that she is currently playing to gets bored and turns on her.
Me me me me me ! empty vessel , vacuous , Phillips , yawwwwnnnnn , switched off , not listening , bored of it now , zzzzzzzzzz !
Diane , Emma DC , Emily , Shami , Rebecca LB , and all the other too many to list really brilliant true Labour women —– PING now you’re talking , awake AND listening . THAT’S THE DIFFERENCE IN BEING EFFECTIVE . Jess opens mouth , shutters come down , Cntrl ALt Delete !
Great Conf all the same and it’s a pity and shame that some MPs just can’t grasp what is
ooops must have dropped off to sleep there !
I meant to say MPs who can’t grasp the positive changes that have and are now taking place in Labour .
jess philips is a gobs***e
A short, but succinct and accurate observation.
Has anyone actually asked Laura Kuenssberg if she had a bodyguard?
As for the online threats and nastiness that are such a big part of the complaints against Labour and Corbyn, Labour cannot be held responsible for the nasty little morons who seem so common online. Whether they claim to be Labourites or not.
I’m no conspiracy theorist, no really, but it becomes hard to deny that the problem of people not being what they say they are online is endemic. There can be little doubt that many indulge in “false-flag” posting of comments and they are not all Russian…