Shadow Chancellor unequivocal on mainstream fake news – and suggests Westminster ‘lobby’ journalists have been drinking too much free parliamentary wine
A clutch of smears against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party by Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday Times has become a familiar weekend routine – and attacks on Corbyn’s closest supporters have been an almost daily event as centrist media attempt to isolate him.
This weekend’s version of the ploy has taken the form of claims that Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott have told Corbyn that he must sack his chief of staff Karie Murphy and his communications head Seumas Milne. Attacks on Milne and Murphy have been a regular feature in the so-called ‘mainstream’ media for some weeks.
But when McDonnell appeared on the BBC’s Marr programme this morning, he went far further than a denial of the claims.
Instead, McDonnell turned on the Westminster journalists behind attacks on Corbyn and his allies, accusing them of inventing stories under the influence of too much alcohol and dismissing their ‘journalism’ as “myth” and “rubbish”:
McDonnell also stated that he did not believe Diane Abbott had said anything of the sort and said that he and Corbyn, friends for four decades, would continue to have each other’s back – and that Corbyn will not only lead Labour into the next general election, but will win it:
The same Murdoch media also claimed this morning that Labour was sending lawyers’ letters to supposed ‘whistleblowers’ to try to silence them ahead of a BBC Panorama programme. As the SKWAWKBOX revealed, the letter used as evidence for this claim was around three months old – but the date had been blacked out before publication.
SKWAWKBOX view:
The smell of MSM desperation is in the air, with expectation of a general election mounting. Divide and conquer is a well-worn Establishment tactic.
Well done John McDonnell for treating it with the contempt it deserves.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here for a monthly donation via GoCardless. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to reblog this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.