Laura Kuenssberg using Tory violence to score cheap points against Labour is really scraping the barrel
On 20 June, Conservative minister Mark Field reportedly ‘assaulted’ Greenpeace activist Janet Barker at the bankers’ banquet in London. The incident caused widespread outrage. On 21 June, Field was suspended. But before that, the BBC‘s chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg used the incident to score a cheap political point against Labour.
“This is horrific”
Shortly after the incident, Kuenssberg responded to Labour’s Dawn Butler who called the incident “horrific”. But there was no support. Instead, Kuenssberg stated it’s “clear Labour will push this tomorrow”:
Clear Labour will push this tomorrow. 👇🏼 https://t.co/7C6Q2gz6aO
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) June 20, 2019
Responses came in thick and fast to her tweet:
Read on...
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And let’s not forget, this is the same – allegedly impartial – journalist that even the BBC had to admit “broke accuracy and impartiality rules” in 2017 during a report on Jeremy Corbyn:
"BBC broke accuracy and impartiality rules"
Kuenssberg said she had asked Mr Corbyn a particular question, they then played video of his response … to a DIFFERENT question, then claimed she didn't intend to mislead?#corrupt #journalism #fakenewshttps://t.co/DjaCkOrQ0P
— Chris Keebs (@chriskeebs) June 21, 2019
Cheap shot
Kuenssberg’s tweet was a desperate, cheap shot.
For a start, she used Butler’s response as her launch pad. As shadow minister for women and equalities, Butler’s rightly placed to stand up to this attack. And while this wasn’t a racist attack, Butler’s experience of inequality is lived. She’s faced “so many” racist incidents and was once ‘mistaken’ for a cleaner in parliament. In a separate incident, a Tory MP also told her to leave the members’ terrace and said: “they’re letting anybody in nowadays”.
As one of around 40 peaceful Greenpeace activists, Barker protested to make an important point. Their action intended to draw attention to the impact of the current climate breakdown. As Greenpeace’s head of politics Rebecca Newsome told Sky News:
We are living in a climate emergency. Business as usual is no longer an option. The people in that room, including Philip Hammond… Mark Carney and many of the financiers who prop up our current fossil-fuel-based financial system need to wake up to this reality… This was an important, peaceful protest.
Violence
The assembled guests are also architects of multiple layers of violence. From austerity to arms sales, and from war to soaring poverty, homelessness, and inequality, these people destroy lives on a daily basis. Little wonder then that each and every one of them just sat there and watched the attack, basking in privilege, entitlement and whiteness.
As for Kuenssberg, she scraped the barrel yet again. But using the shadow minister for women and equalities to take a snide dig at Labour is really going too far.
Featured image via screengrab
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“scraping”
They can’t help themselves…as they say in the Mafia…it’s not personal it’s just business…
Little did she know we would soon have bigger fish to fry.
This appalling excuse for a journalist went right through the bottom of the barrel years ago. I wouldn’t expect anything else.
Why hasn’t she been suspended? After all, RT UK gets referred to Offcom for a lot less than this. Why is it that Kuenssberg is totally unable to support Labour Policies and statements. They are, after all, reasonable, focussed on what the country needs, rational and have solid roots in equality for all.
The only raving loonies and dangerous ones at that, are this current Tory Government. Make no mistake about it, had this been a Labour MP the MSM including the BBC would have yelled outrage, assault, sack MP, Police charge MP and from the roof tops too. Why is it that Kuenssberg is totally unable to condemn this physical assault (and a fairly serious and frightening one too leaving the victim with bruising on her neck and wrist) rather than use it as an excuse that Labour would build on this. Labour hasn’t as a matter of fact because one expects the Police to do their job properly, ABH is a criminal offence. Whether the victim doesn’t want to give evidence or not, and she has good reason not to want to given the crass, ignorant MSM we have in the UK, the Police could still arrest and prosecute on the basis of the video alone. Added to this, it shows you how we are marching or have marched into Totalitarianism when the Police also deny they ever attended at Bojo’s house. So, in the space of the week, two Tory MPs have been involved in assaults both physical and verbal yet the MSM fail to condemn either of them.
I gave up on Laura and the BBC last year and to be honest I don’t miss either. One tells lies and the other ummmm …… tells lies, I’ll let you decide which is which !!