• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Thursday, May 15, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Today’s Telegraph front page is a giant ad for Johnson’s leadership ambitions

John Shafthauer by John Shafthauer
25 March 2019
in Trending, UK
Reading Time: 4 mins read
162 10
A A
0
Home Trending
319
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

There’s an uncomfortable relationship between Britain’s media and its political classes. Today’s Telegraph shows exactly why we should question these relationships. Its cover is basically an advertisement for Boris Johnson’s continued leadership ambitions:

The front page of tomorrow’s Daily Telegraph: Boris Johnson: ‘We have blinked. We have baulked. We have bottled it completely. It is time for the PM to channel the spirit of Moses in Exodus, and say to Pharaoh in Brussels – LET MY PEOPLE GO’ pic.twitter.com/r0m99bgKme

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) March 24, 2019

“Amazing”

People found a lot to criticise with the piece. A Conservative peer (and newspaper columnist himself) pointed out that Johnson doesn’t seem to understand what he’s arguing for:

How can someone be Foreign Secretary, take themselves seriously as possible PM or even be a lead columnist on the Daily Telegraph and still think that there will be an implementation period without a deal? Here are the final 2 pars of Boris Johnson’s column this morning. Amazing. pic.twitter.com/ldyHMPb4sM

— Daniel Finkelstein (@Dannythefink) March 25, 2019

One man questioned Johnson’s motives for supporting no-deal Brexit:

There are two types of hardliner Brexiters, those who want No Deal Brexit.

The real ones – like Bill Cash – who actually want No Deal Brexit

and

The fake ones – like Boris Johnson – who keep banging the No Deal drum to demonstrate their Brexit purity to the Tory base

— Jon Worth (@jonworth) March 25, 2019

Others pointed out his lack of follow-through:

https://twitter.com/suzanne_moore/status/1110080010956746753

Many found humour in the situation:

While others speculated if this would be the moment of Johnson’s return:

As Johnson seems to be constantly on the verge of making a leadership bid, it’s unlikely anyone got good odds on this prediction.

Cometh the twat

Johnson famously spearheaded the Brexit campaign; before that, he considered supporting remain. One of his former junior ministers claimed:

I’ve always thought that Boris’s wish was to lose by one so that he could be the heir apparent without having to… [clear] up all the mess

Johnson actually quit the post-referendum leadership race – likely because he would have lost. Although Johnson seems to want the top job still, he’s unpopular with many in his party. Steve Richards wrote in the Guardian that no other aspiring prime minister has:

displayed such transparent ambition as Johnson, dominating media coverage while leading loudly and vaguely the Brexit charge against Theresa May. It is all too crudely obvious. Overt egotism annoys colleagues, who have the power to stop the hunger being sated.

There are Tories who are dedicated to the leader being ‘anyone but Boris’, and he’s faced much internal criticism. That hasn’t stopped him trying his luck – the man’s reported ‘last chances’ to become PM coming and going more frequently than London’s red buses.

One thing that’s kept this backbench MP in the public consciousness is his column in the Telegraph.

Chumocracy

The British media has been described as having a ‘revolving door’ with the political classes. In June 2018, Labour claimed that former ministers taking top jobs in business and the media is “at the heart of how the British establishment survives and thrives across Whitehall”.

George Osborne becoming the editor of the Evening Standard drew particular criticism. As Grant Feller wrote in the Guardian at the time:

 journalism has never been more vital to society. Yet because of the scourge of fake news it is also one of the least trusted. Osborne’s editorship can only dent that level of trust further… journalists who work on the Evening Standard… will never again be able to write about individuals who are conflicted by multiple interests without knowing, deep down, that their boss is one of the most conflicted of all.

The difference between Osborne and Johnson is that Johnson is still actively engaged in politics. ‘Actively engaged’ is an understatement, too; Johnson has shaped several of the most important events of the past few years.

His column begs several questions: like how can anyone trust the Telegraph to hold the powerful to account when the powerful are literally on its payroll? Johnson earns £275,000 a year writing for the paper – with the Telegraph being a business in a capitalist society, how can we trust it won’t prioritise protecting its investment over honest journalism? And how can anyone believe that Johnson – an already wealthy man – isn’t using the paper primarily to promote his own interests?

There aren’t good answers to those questions. Today’s Telegraph shows again that corporate media and careerist politicians are so entwined that you can’t see where one ends and the other begins.

Featured image via Wikimedia – EU2017EE

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

While all eyes were on Chequers, a TIG MP travelled 3,000 miles to smear Jeremy Corbyn

Next Post

Tom Watson opposed all inquiries into the Iraq war he voted for. But now he wants one for Brexit?

Next Post
Tom Watson Sir John Chilcot

Tom Watson opposed all inquiries into the Iraq war he voted for. But now he wants one for Brexit?

Hilary Powell & Dan Edelstyn

Two artists will literally blow up the UK's spiralling debt crisis

Israeli flag and Rasmea Odeh

Israel claims victory for getting a Palestinian activist banned from Germany

Laura Kuenssberg

In just two tweets, Laura Kuenssberg blew the lid on dangerous Tory racism

Image of Michael Gove labelled as 'grand wizard' and image of KKK members labelled 'grand wizards'

Ku Klux Klan sues Tory Party for copyright infringement

Please login to join discussion
The British Museum just held an event with the Israeli embassy - and the Met police responded by repressing Palestine protesters
News

British Museum holds event with the Israeli embassy – so Met Police respond by repressing Palestine protesters

by The Canary
14 May 2025
EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer's in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London
Analysis

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer’s in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London

by Ed Sykes
14 May 2025
People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour's DWP benefit cuts
News

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour’s DWP benefit cuts

by The Canary
14 May 2025
Keir Starmer's 'Island of Strangers' speech: channeling the racist rhetoric of Enoch Powell
Opinion

Is Keir Starmer capable of killing?

by Jamie Driscoll
14 May 2025
As an ACTUAL GENOCIDE continues, its apologists come for Gary Lineker over an emoji
Opinion

As an ACTUAL GENOCIDE continues, its apologists come for Gary Lineker over an emoji

by Ed Sykes
14 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

The British Museum just held an event with the Israeli embassy - and the Met police responded by repressing Palestine protesters
News
The Canary

British Museum holds event with the Israeli embassy – so Met Police respond by repressing Palestine protesters

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer's in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London
Analysis
Ed Sykes

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer’s in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour's DWP benefit cuts
News
The Canary

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour’s DWP benefit cuts

Keir Starmer's 'Island of Strangers' speech: channeling the racist rhetoric of Enoch Powell
Opinion
Jamie Driscoll

Is Keir Starmer capable of killing?

ADVERTISEMENT
Business
Nathan Spears

When digital isn’t enough: why paper still matters in modern business

Tech
Nathan Spears

How Digital Addictions Are Formed in the Shadow of Large Platforms

Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Recovery in the Sun: How the Canary Islands are Becoming a Wellness Tourism Hub