Let us praise Julie Kirkbride, she who is now a martyr to the cause of troughing MP’s! Don’t get me wrong – I think that she is a first class disgrace and should follow in her husband’s footsteps and not seek re-election. Her refusal to do so is allowing the BBC to run this story as IF she were the focus of the expenses sleaze and thus provide Labour with some cover, and of course thee BBC treats the Lib-Dem’s as paragons of virtue. It’s interesting to watch the return of Tory Sleaze as the headline grabber on the BBC just one week before the Euro-election and local Council polls. Entirely coincidental, no doubt.
DV
I only realised this morning, listening to Radio 4 News at 8:00am and subsequent “discussion” on Today including the press review, that this whole expenses scandal is actually a Conservative MPs’ scandal and that Cameron is fighting a reargusrd action to save the most egregious trougher of them all – Julie Kirkbride. There was nothing on Labour or LibDem troughers: no mention of the Telegraph pages devoted to Labour ministers’ tax avoidance/evasion (each of whom answered the Telegraph – where they answered at all – with a stock phrase implying that tax evasion as practised by Labour ministers was all within the rules).
Also flagged up was that Miliband has lost patience with the kidnappers of 5 Britons in Iraq and has issued instructions for the kidnappees’ release. Wow what machismo! That’s what Labour does for beleaguered citizens: contrast Cameron who can only save greedy Conservative MPs.
There’s not much time to save Labour – the EU and local elections are only a week away – but the BBC does its best.
Has anyone worked out the time spent by the BBC (and the Today programme in particular)re Conservative expense misdemeanors and Labour.
Umbongo’s right (9.25) no Labour MP (especially their mnisters) has been reported as claiming for anything they shouldn’t (like accountants fees) for days
There is no doubt the BBC are gurgling with delight at reprising Tory Sleaze. A story they can’t get enough of. They get the soundbite ‘moats and duck houses’ in at every opportunity’ (without ever clarifying that these expense enquiries were turned down by the Fees Office). Julie Kirkbride is being crucified over charges that are as clear as mud – I noticed their reporter resorted to the old trick of saying that smears stick, no matter what the truth is. When Labour are under fire, however, they bring in a few clergy and tame journos to warn us against the dangers of lynch mob politics. The fact that Labour failed to agree anything at their non event of a ‘star chamber’ yesterday for the Labour troughers Moran and Morley, was buried under the Kirkbride stampede. And Cameron is now being branded ‘a ditherer’. I don’t believe anything can actually save Gordon, but the BBC are certainly giving it their best shot. If they can’t save Gordon, they are certainly determined to knife the Conservatives.
Before I forget: prepare yourselves for the June 4 post mortem by BBC commentators to the effect that (1) the Labour melt-down was not as bad as feared (by whom?) and Labour has done particularly well in some God-forsaken part of Glasgow; and (2) despite some undeserved gains nationwide, the Conservatives have been badly affected by the scandal in Westminster.
The charge that the petition to oust Kirbride in Bromsgrove is being run by a Respect party activist (see Iain Dale’s blog)is another clearcut case of BBC Bias. The Today programme went so far as to refute the charge on this morning’s programme. So they are not just lying by omission, but lying outright.
PS – They did not say the petition was being run by Respect of course, they simply refuted it was “politically motivated”.
OUTRAGEOUS toady programme this morning, the most openly biased example of Tory bashing yet heard.
Take one obscure Tory Mp, who may have bent the rules, but certainly not broken them in a criminal manner, as have a number of labour Mps, and concentrate on her to the exclusion of all others. Also be highly selective in your oresentation – ie fail to mention the hard left activists behind the petition to de-select her !
Would urge all who read this to e-mail their MP and cite the case as the absolute proof that bbc reform must be high on the agenda.
A spokesman for the “Julie Must Go” campaign appeared on the R5L phone-in last Monday (May 18). I googled his name and discovered he was the secretary of the Bromsgrove branch of the Respect Party. Of course, this wasn’t mentioned to listeners, a point I made on the programme’s blog.
The BBC does not think things through.
Concentrate on Tories to minimise damage to labour. Fine. But all that does is reinforce voters desire to be rid of the lot of them and vote elsewhere or abstain.
Ukip and the BNP must be pleased with the BBC stance.
Cameron is a prat. He should have stuck his boot up her backside. On the BBC now they are reporting that she is thinking of standing down.
Cameron needs to get the BBC to focus back on REAL SLEAZE in the Liebour party.
She’s gone
Martin 12:47
Quite agree with you about Cameron, but also the sheer selfishness of Kirkbride putting her own finances ahead of her party and the country and just ahead of elections and allowing the BBC to have a field day is a disgrace.
Anyway, good riddance to bad rubbish.
‘Talking a load of cobblers’? Charming, BBC. Which Labour MP got a similar headline? It’s a misquote anyway, swapping the cobbler’s self-deprecating joke with what he said about Kirkbride. She certainly deserves scrutiny (and any politician who pleads to stay in office by saying they love the job and not a word about working for issues or the people should be voted out, IMHO), but why did Bob Walker take the time to describe the ominous security camera and the boarded up window if it had nothing whatsoever to do with her current problems? Seems a bit unfair to use that to create a context of brewing trouble, as if to suggest that her constituents were so angry that they might start vandalizing her home over this. Have there been any similar reports mentioning security cameras and gates at the homes of Labour MPs in this situation?
Aside from that, the contrast between the total lack of support for Kirkbride in the vox pops and the unanimous praise the BBC found for Michael Martin in the old folks’ club…I mean, in his constituency…is striking.
As far as history is concerned, it’s the Night of the Long Knives for British politics. Goodbye and good riddance to the lot of them.
Dave S you make an excellent point that all the BBC are doing is steering more voters to UKIP and BNP. But let’s not forget the effect all these unemployed Labour troughers will have on us.
More middle management positions created for them at the BBC!
Were Miss(?) Kirkbride’s expense claims for a hair stylist refused?