Analysis comment News

Video: Corbyn and front bench go on offensive over media bias and nonsense – and the grassroots love it

Labour leader and senior team all speak out as media bias plumbs new depths – and Labour’s huge base loves every bit of it

Monday was a day on which the naked bias of Establishment media reached new depths, with senior BBC and ITV journalists parroting a blatant – and proven – lie that a Tory aide had been ‘punched in the face’ by a Labour activist at a hospital.

There was no fact-checking before publication and the journalists were forced to retract the claim when video evidence disproved it – but of course, the BBC and co did not feature the lie in their news bulletins, as they should have done under general election laws.

But it seems Jeremy Corbyn and his front bench team collectively decided enough is enough.

Corbyn and an array of his Shadow Cabinet – including John McDonnell, party chair Ian Lavery, Dawn Butler and others – went on the offensive on social media, taking on the disgraceful, unprofessional amplification of a desperate Tory lie:

And Labour’s massive grassroots loved it, with Corbyn’s and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s tweets in particular being shared many thousands of times and the rest of the team’s receiving plenty of praise too.

After a disastrous day for the Tories, Labour is fully on the offensive – and it adds even greater energy to the movement at a vital time in the campaign.

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.

32 comments

  1. Typical,rebuttal at the end of the campaign and who will be listening.Formal complaint about breach of election campaign laws need to be submitted and the response of a rebutal team should have been in position before the election campaign.We all new that the establishment would play dirty.

    1. They are rebutting what happened TODAY Joseph (well yesterday now), so why the fuck are you complaining and criticising them! ALWAYS criticising and finding fault, aren’t you (along with a few others who monitor and post on here all day long, every day, day after day, week after week, month after month), and you claim you’re a Jeremy Corbyn supporter. Yeah, sure you are!!!

  2. Their increasing desperation shows up the fact that they know, after all the mud they’ve slung, they can’t beat him.

    The MSM are writhing wildly in their death-throes!

  3. What I actually came on here to say – prior to spotting Joseph’s comment, if one can call it that, and responding to it – was PLEASE do not start spouting that Jeremy and Co should have done this in relation to the A/S smears long ago – and I’m addressing this to the spouters – because it is self-defeating, as has been shown when Ken tried to get the truth out there AND when the LP condemned the Panorama program, as you well know.

    Practically anything else in terms of lies and falsehoods they can fire back on, but when they do it regarding A/S they are attacked and vilified for being in denial and, as such, part of the problem etc, etc.

    You’ve probably posted at least sixty such negative comments between you since the election campaign started, so please give it a rest for a few days lads. FJS!

    1. “give it a rest for a few days”

      Actually I was going to … and since you’ve done it for us ….raising the bleedin’ obvious is even less necessary.

    1. Ashworth is in a clique with Neil Coyle, Sadiq Khan, Harriet Harman and Hodge who was campaigning with Coyle last Friday.
      Jonathan Ashworth was asked this AM on 5Live by Emma Barnet, why did he (like Coyle), not have the leader Jeremy on the leaflets. He said it is normal. He never puts leaders on his literature. He and Coyle demand that canvassers ask on the doorstep if they are unhappy with Jeremy. A Dodd & Alastair Campbell are now on R4 excusing J Ashworth. So Maria, it is deliberate sabotage.

      1. Been doing a small bit of research, not sure what clique Ashworth is in but it seems he is anti-socialist, pro establishment and pro financialized capitalism domestic and foreign hegemony.
        He went under my radar, probably because he is as Paul says an ‘uninspired mumbler’.

      2. He only came on my radar because of the incumbent Neil Coyle – Bermondsey and Old Southwark. Clique includes the names i posted. Khan, Hodge, Harman, etc . Coyle had all of them, mainly Khan and Ahworth as Special “Guest Speakers” at several events he arranged here. Three weeks ago, Coyle boasted about being endorsed by Blair. Even Alistair Campbell & David Miliband were here in last 3 weeks campaigning with Coyle. We get these details as he sends emails & texts advertising these. Headed Banner reads in bold: “NEIL COYLE MEMBERS”. Not Labour Members. They come from his own email address but NOT the official Labour email address. His very first Christmas card, after we defeated Simon Hughes, … his first card slated Corbyn. Will need to dig that out. Maybe i got Christmas card for putting Labour posters on both sides of home. But was desperate to get Jeremy in despite Coyle showing early anti-Jeremy form. Check Neil Coyle’s record and you will see the clique, gang, cabal of which i speak. Read last weeks Southwark News, you will read Ashworth’s exact “banter” written in a long interview by Coyle… during a campaign JUST like Ashworth. They ask door knockers to as people on the doorstep “Do you disagree with Corbyn?” and “Do you disagree with Brexit?” BOTH leading questions. Ps I have never heard Coyle

      3. signpostnotwindchimes at 1:32 am

        Have you never considered that it may be prudent to reserve any postmortems until after the GE?

      4. … never heard Coyle or Ashworth or any of that clique mumble. “Uninspired”, yes. Re Coyle – frequently on MSM, always pressed by interviewer on wether he supports Jeremy. Neil Coyle is ALWAYS open on that and says “NO”. Then he elaborates.
        Hope that helps.

      5. signpostnotwindchimes at 1:38 am

        FFS – Use some common sense and give it a rest.

    2. At the last GE Ashworth was on the TV when they had that photoshopped picture of Corby and Bin Laden. In the same programme, the BBC also repeated the claims about Corbyn where he was misrepresented by Kuenssberg.

      There had already been a ruling against the BBC on that. So what did Ashworth do?

      I’ll leave you to guess the answer.

      1. Why the heck was he given such a prime position in the Shadow Cabinet? He has always been an uninspired mumbler. Is it because there is a shortage of true Red candidates? Presumably his colleagues knew he was angling to lose? And they didn’t mind either!

    3. Clutching at straws trying to pass that off as banter.
      From far enough away that the words are indecipherable banter between two strangers can still be distinguished from normal conversation – the speech patterns are different, and not in a subtle way.

      I’d sack the fucker just for being stupid enough to think a Tory could be a friend.

  4. Why did the NEC refuse to allow Williamson to stand in Derby North? Surely the best thing would have been to leave the decision to the voters? It’s a spurious complaint as is obvious by just reading what he said which was true! It’s the worst aspect of Labour and needs clearing out whatever the result. Derby North has been gifted to Johnson by this last minute inexplicable decision. An articulate, radical and principled Labour politician is now having to fight as as an Independent. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if he won!

    1. Paul 10/12/2019 at 11:05 am · ·
      “Why did the NEC refuse to allow Williamson to stand in Derby North?”

      I think you’ve answered your own question,

      “An articulate, radical and principled Labour politician”

      Apart from the fact he was under new suspension. LP doesn’t seem to want MPs that really question and challenge power and the rigged systems in UK.

      I’m still reeling from Ashworth’s stupidity.

      1. Ashworth’s on Politics Live on BBC2 now. I believe him when he says he was trying to psyche the other guy out…

        But, yeah, as he says, he was too clever by half!

      2. timfrom,

        To me it sounds like a set up by the Tory activist friend… otherwise why record the call? Perhaps the whole alleged recording should now be released?

        The problem is Ashworth is in the Shadow Cabinet!

      3. Maria, i don’t think it was a set up by the Tory. It seems Mandelsonian Campbellendian. RE: the clique / cabal: Know them by the freinds they keep. Neil Coyle, during this GE campaign has had his own DIY BREXIT high octane REMAIN policy.

        Like Priti Patel’s DIY Foreign Policy with her trip to Israel. At least Theresa May fired her for that. Says lots about Johnson re-hiring her.

        Anyway back to Coyle: His BREXIT policy changed to REVOKE‼️ Yesterday Coyle finally said he will have a peoples’ vote. Only yesterday. Coyle also stated openly that he will “Stand up to the Front Bench”. And “we will lose the election because of Corbyn” and ” for his not campaigning for Leave”.

        Wonder if the usual suspects here, ever caution MPs like those❓ The McArshHbotButts never give up. Impressive as they are base. Incoherent as inconsistent. Like toddlers, believing out of sight out = of mind? Hide a toy and it no longer exists? Or, like ostriches? N O. No, They know what they’re up to and are. EXTREMELY well funded foreign controlled / handled BOTS. They PRETEND to support Jeremy and as Agent Provocateurs, to be vehemently against AS allegations to PROVOKE an angry response. Don’t be deceived. Don’t be manipulated. Don’t be baited. And DON’T be intimidated by the Mc A R S H McBotButts.

      4. With just 1 day before the election It would be prudent to postpone navel gazing till after the GE.

  5. Yesterday I mentioned that The Groan suddenly seemed to be regaining some balance – except where the influence of the Israel lobby is involved.

    Another example of dawning light comes this morning in an article by George Monbiot :

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/10/break-embargo-expose-press-lies-labour

    Writing about what – for most of us – would be everyday distortion in the Mail, concerning a report that he had been involved in, he states :

    “The storm of lies about our report in the billionaire press gave me an idea of what it must be like to be a Labour politician. Pushing back against them all would be a fulltime job for several people.”

    Bit late, George – but better late than never to get the message of what the ordinary Joe is faced with every day in making their political choices.

    Even Polly Toynbee seems at last to be rightly scared by the prospect of a Johnson government that The Groan has done a lot to help with its antagonism to Corbyn.

    Tell Viner, Polly and George. Then have another look at stories about ‘antisemitism’. There is a connection. And suggest that Jonathan Freedland isn’t actually the honest journalist he pretends to be – a bit like Mr Toad with his scare stories, actually.

    1. The Guardian traditionally gives a nod to Labour in the last few dates, hedging their bets and giving them something to enable them to say it wasn’t their fault (5 years of Johnson’s Far Right ‘New Tory Party’), look at that article etc. That’s after 2+ years of intense undermining of the left of centre. John Grace’s piece on Corbyn in Bristol beat any from the far right in its anti Labour sneering and ranting. And that was after 100 or so articles doing the same over 2 years. Yet the old fool (Grace) is still seen by some as a progressive comedian!

  6. … whilst the BBC continues its selectivity. Just listened to the 1:00 headlines – which elevate the tittle-tattle from Tory HQ about Ashworth’s ramblings above the obviously more substantial story of lack of economic growth.

    Neutral editing? There goes another pig.

  7. Ashworth reminds us just how many and how strong the Old Guard are in the LP. Scratch them and they seriously would prefer to lose so they can blame the Left and t’ake back control’. A sub feature of the election might be Labour voters turning against these dinosaurs. In my constituency the MP escaped deselection by a lucky calling of the election and slowness from the Centre. He too was anti Corbyn and voted with the Tory party over Heathrow expansion. He’ll get one less vote than he might have done, reducing his majority of 23, 000 in 2017 to 22,999. I’ll vote Green as I couldn’t possibly vote for not- so- secret Tory Swinson. I wonder if there’s any chance Ashworth could be unseated because of unhappy voters? He deserves to be as he’s clearly running a campaign contrary to the Party. Campaigning to lose is a new low even for these people!

Leave a Reply to MariaCancel reply

Discover more from SKWAWKBOX

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading