4 July 2019
Diary of a Corbynista
Tory General Election Panic
by Don Urquhart
27 June
Watching last night’s Peston and Newsnight and today’s Politics Live was to observe two dialogues of the deaf. There were people who wanted a no deal Brexit butting up to those insisting on a deal or remaining. There were people who thought the Labour Party should not have readmitted Chris Williamson and just one who thought he was a good egg and fine comrade. I am ever more convinced that the route to the truth lies in darkened rooms where deep thought can take place.
28 June
Should Chris Williamson have had his Labour Party suspension lifted? Question Time dealt with this issue by asking a Tory Cabinet Minister, a Sun journalist, some businessman, a virulently anti-Corbyn Labour MP and a journalist who is Luciana Berger’s bestie. Nothing like a balanced debate. Nothing like an independent broadcaster.
29 June
Kirsty Wark returned to the Chris Williamson issue on Newsnight. She was assisted by Tory hacks from The Spectator and Telegraph and a Blairite colleague from the Guardian who all agreed that Corbyn was anti-Semitic and on his way out. When Corbyn supporter Grace Blakeley tried to offer an alternative view she was shouted down by the Guardian man and Wark.
My friend Mark who knows all about these things says that Chris Williamson is an idiot but not a racist.
Johnson, the Tory leadership candidate has many faults but has on his side the media in all its conventional forms – those owned by the 1%, who want to keep their hands on the levers of power.
30 June
Labour MPs who did not sign letter to remove Williamson whip have nowhere to hide
reads the headline to Lee Harpin’s article in The Jewish Chronicle.
It’s a statement worthy of the Cosa Nostra.
Who is threatening to do what to these Labour MPs?
1 July
6 months ago the Telegraph reported that an anonymous senior civil servant had reported that the country’s no deal preparations were in grand shape.
Two days ago The Times reported that anonymous civil servants had told Times journalists that Jeremy Corbyn was too frail, physically and mentally to assume high office.
The Telegraph and The Times were once regarded as newspapers of record but those days are long gone. This latest article is just another attempt to smear the Labour Party and its leader.
Meanwhile the Muslim Council of Britain has appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee to point out the pervasive Islamophobia in the Conservative Party:
Miqdaad Versi from the Muslim Council of Britain provided oral evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on Islamophobia.
In his evidence, he condemned the Conservative Party over ‘Fundamental failures’ in addressing Islamophobia within the Party’s ranks and had documented ‘hundreds of cases’ evidently showing the scale of the problem in the party.
2 July
It was the day the leadership campaigns decided to send out the nice guys to make the looming No Deal appear palatable. So on Politics Live and Newsnight we were blessed with Damian Green and Greg Hands. It doesn’t really matter which candidate each was supporting. Johnson was the better option because he was totally determined. Hunt would be more acceptable to the EU as a negotiator. Damian told us how the issue will be presented to Tory MPs regardless of who leads them – they will have to choose between No Deal and Jeremy Corbyn.
3 July
A Panorama program: Is Labour Anti-Semitic? is scheduled for July 10th.
I have submitted a written complaint to the BBC:
The program is trailed as follows: Panorama reporter John Ware goes inside the anti-Semitism crisis gripping Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.
It is very likely that John Ware will use it as propaganda against Corbyn rather than undertake an objective analysis. He is a regular contributor to the Jewish Chronicle with anti-Corbyn and anti-Muslim articles.
And where is Panorama’s investigation of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party?
With an election looming the BBC needs to be more even-handed.
We’ll see if they take any notice.
