There is something really unpleasant about this Government’s relationship with the media. A few weeks ago, we had Andrea Leadsom suggesting that the broadcast media should be more “patriotic.” It’s almost as if the right wing print press being almost completely on their side isn’t enough for this Government.
Unfortunately, this mindset seems to be prevalent amongst ministers. Liam Fox took a swipe at the BBC today.
In the Commons, responding to a question from Nigel Evans, the Trade Secretary claimed in the House of Commons that the BBC would “rather see Britain fail than Brexit succeed”.
Alistair Carmichael said:
A Government minister attacking the media in this way is a dangerous and misplaced intervention. Mr Fox should get on with the work of Government rather than trying to deflect from the failings of his Department.
It is extraordinary that Mr Fox feels it is appropriate to attack the media. He looks like Donald Trump without the perma-tan. He may of course be trying to distract us from the official data today that shows the number of jobs created by foreign investment fell by 9% last year.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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4 Comments
With May having lost control of the mob we can expect more of this from those who think they have the right to rule but little ability with which to do it.
These are the current leave-tactics: willfully misinterpret the referndum result as a conscious, informed and irreversible decision against single-market- (and customs-union-) membership, and freezing this narrative until the deed is done. Their biggest enemy is now time and people observing and thinking. Consequently, any considerate media-coverage must be labelled as “unpatriotic”, “frustrating the (obviously unchangeable) will of the people”, etc. By this logic, Michel Barnier is just an insulting bully with no real sway.
This will not work for another year, and they know it.
They are clearly preparing the groundwork for who to blame when brexit fails. Someone on Question Time a couple of weeks ago pointed out that the tories couldn’t even get support from the DUP (who would do anything to avoid a Corbyn PMship) without a £1b bribe, and these are the master negotiators who will get us a better ‘deal’ than what we had in the EU?
When brexit fails, they (and the Express/Mail/Murdoch) will need someone to blame. They can’t blame the printed press, as they are almost entirely on the side of emotion and ignoring facts, so it’s the broadcast press who try to present the facts who get the blame. “If only the BBC had played the national anthem at 6PM every day, we’d have the empire back!”
As a British national, retiring early to live in the wonderful north German port city of Hamburg, I am naturally extremly concerned about Brexit.
The first aspect, is the selfish one, of worrying about whether the guarentees made by the EU that reciprocal benefits flowing from taxes and N.I. contributions into one member state, will be transferrable to another state. In my case there is a query about whether the UK will pick up the tab for healthcare cover upon age 65, as is currently the case, or if early retirees are to be frozen out. This would mean a liftetime’s payments into the UK system would not be honoured by the UK government, which the PM’s initial offer throws doubt on. In this respect, the EU’s offer is more comprehensive in supporting the same benefits for EU and UK Expats as those they signed up to.
At a more general level, the common mood in Germany about Brexit, is that everyone will suffer, but the British have the most to lose. Whilst the Germans also criticise the Institutions of the EU, the great prize is the coming together of the peoples of Europe in the last 60-70 years which has brought increased prosperity, a spirit of friendship and the ability to move around easily without excess redtape. For that to work it has needed the main nations to take their share of responsibility, and in that light they do feel let down by us British, even though they probably wouldn’t say so in blunt terms.
There have been meetings in Hamburg organised by the SPD and the Chamber of Commerce discussing the theme of Brexit, but it is clear that for them the absolute priority is to protect the integrity of the Single Market.
For us British, membership of the Single Market is absolutely vital, because so much else flows from that, our status, as well as business opportunities.