Saturday, February 21, 2009

"Brown outflanks Merkel and Sarkozy" - oh! and Cameron too!


Why does the BBC keep saying that "it is an undoubted coup" for Gordon Brown to be visiting President Obama on 3rd March? Are they just following the spin put out by No 10 to try to relaunch Brown's fading electoral chances?

Apart from the fact that the BBC fails to mention that Obama has already visited Canada and is due to host a visit from the Japanese PM on Tuesday, it is the use of such fawning language that most offends me. "Undoubted coup", my a*se! All they had to say is that Brown is due to visit Obama to discuss the agenda for the forthcoming meeting of the G20. Instead of that, we had Lance Price, an ex-Labour spin-doctor telling us at length that this visit will show Brown is a world statesman, unlike David Cameron who has no ideas and would do nothing.

The coverage of the announcement that Lord Ashcroft's donations are to be investigated by the Electoral Commission was treated in a similarly biased fashion, although I should say that John Mann, the MP who originally made the complaint, was asked if he was motivated by Ashcroft's effectiveness in raising Conservative support in marginal constituencies. His response was along the lines of "Ashcroft is a tax dodger" and "it's unfair"! Ah, diddums!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did Mann mention the Indian businessman who funneled over £4 million to Labour through his business here, while paying no UK income tax whatsoever?

Ted Foan said...

Not that I heard, Raven! Perhaps he's not aware of it - or chooses not to be!