Piers Morgan reminds us why doing his job now doesn’t make up for all the atrocious sh*t he’s done in the past

Piers Morgan has done some atrocious shit in the past. During the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, though, he’s actually been doing his job well. Even some of his strongest opponents have praised him for holding the government to account. But with one tweet, he just reminded us why doing his job now doesn’t make up for all the years he’s spent shilling for the establishment.
Reacting to Boris Johnson’s U-turn on charges that health and care workers from abroad have to pay to access NHS services, Morgan couldn’t resist having a dig at former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn:
Great to have a proper opposition leader again.
Our democracy needs it. https://t.co/jZnsRhQO8g— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 21, 2020
Read on...
Support us and go ad-freeMorgan was very much a part of vile establishment efforts between 2015 and 2019 to stop Corbyn becoming prime minister. From the start, he vocally attacked the peace-prize-winning democratic socialist. Corbyn’s focus on international human rights and sensible, moderate, social-justice policies at home was apparently just too “radical” for Morgan. For him and his fellow corporate hacks, Corbyn had to go – no matter the cost.
“A proper opposition leader”?
Johnson changed his stance on the highly controversial Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) after widespread criticism. But the charge actually came into being thanks to the Immigration Act 2014. This was also the legislation behind the Windrush scandal.
The Immigration Act 2014, however, actually had massive support in parliament. Only 16 politicians opposed it at its final reading in the House of Commons. Among these were left-wing Labour heavyweights John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, and Dennis Skinner. The tellers for the opposition, meanwhile, were Jeremy Corbyn and Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams. So when the overwhelming consensus in parliament was to pass a piece of appalling legislation, Corbyn and his allies went against the current to lead the opposition.
Later, when Corbyn was Labour leader in 2018, he guided 191 Labour MPs to oppose government plans to double the IHS. The government won the vote, but by a much smaller margin.
During his time as opposition leader, Corbyn oversaw more government defeats than any other in British history. He also energised the Labour Party, attracting the highest number of members since the 1970s and increasing the party’s vote share in 2017 more than under any other leader since 1945. According to one analysis of marginal constituencies, an extra 2,227 votes in 2017 could have put him in Downing Street. And this all happened despite Labour elites undermining his movement at its height between 2015 and 2017 – as the Labour Leaks scandal recently revealed.
The eternal stain
Piers Morgan may be cleaning his image thanks to his coronavirus reporting. But doing his job now can never wash off the eternal stain of helping to keep a lethally cruel government in power.
Morgan and his establishment buddies now have an opposition leader they don’t fear. There’s no real threat to their power anymore; so they can give token attention to ordinary people’s interests again. But we must never forget the key role they played in keeping Corbyn – a principled, compassionate man who would have actually funded the NHS properly and saved countless lives – out of power.
Featured image via Good Morning Britain/YouTube
Support us and go ad-freeWe know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
The wretched MI6 controlled Zionist fanzine the Guardian played exactly the same role and now take every opportunity to take Johnson and his government to task after spending four years working assiduously to ensure their election.
Daily, they lied and smeared the Labour party, its leader and membership, now they’d rather you forgot all that and get behind the Tory B team currently on the Opposition benches.
The Labour party is finished, sadly not so the Guardian, considered such an important propaganda tool that I’d be very surprised if the taxpayer wasn’t funding it covertly.
Nice work Ed., thanks.
I think what is happening is that now we have a neo-liberal leader of the labour party who is no threat to the very wealthy broadcasters can criticise the government to re-establish their ‘neutral’ status, then if we had a progressive leader of Labour again they can go into full attack mode & claim to be neutral
Ken
WRONG, Piers Morgan. So, Very, WRONG.
Alas… having messed up all the repairs you seemed to have been attempting – and lost yourself all those thousands of watchers who may just have begun to take appreciative notice of your efforts – what’s the idea now you’re back at Square 1?
If Piers Morgan just got over his fear about losing his class which must be so delicate a situation ,he’d turn out to be not such a bad human being. Fear rules over the truth with him. No class at all.