Two days, two Daily Mail headlines. Spot the difference.

Members of the public have compared The Mail‘s last two front pages and noticed a glaring contradiction.

The Brexit vote

The Brexit vote on 13 December returned a grim result for Theresa May’s minority government. Eleven Conservative rebels, including former chancellor of the exchequer Kenneth Clarke, voted against their leader. This means that, despite the support of the DUP, May cannot stop her EU Withdrawal Bill being amended.

Parliament now has the right to vote on any final Brexit deal if and when it is negotiated.

Reaction

While some commentators see the vote as a triumph “for democracy”, the UK’s right-wing press is less enthusiastic. Having campaigned for hard Brexit and celebrated the referendum result, The Daily Mail has been quick to pour scorn. Underneath pictures of the named Conservative Remainers, its 14 December front page described them as “11 self-consumed malcontents”. And the article’s first paragraph openly talked of “treachery”.

Nothing new

This is nothing new for The Mail. Previous headlines have described Remainers as “saboteurs” and High Court judges who ruled on Article 50 as “enemies of the people”. Edited by Paul Dacre and owned by Viscount Rothermere, its political position is well known. But on this occasion, The Mail appears to have shot itself in the foot.

Because members of the public have noticed a glaring contradiction in The Mail‘s last two front pages.

Real or fake news?

The Mail is so unreliable as to be banned as a source by internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia. In making their decision, the Wikipedia editors described The Mail‘s “poor fact checking, sensationalism and flat-out fabrication”.

Despite this, The Mail has waded into the recent debate over what constitutes ‘real’ or ‘fake’ news. And on 13 December, its front page looked like this:

Its lead article accused social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook of “fuelling abuse of Tory MPs”. With little self awareness, the piece decried the “persistent, vile and shocking abuse” suffered by Conservative MPs online. Yet the next day, angered by a vote which opposed its editorial line, The Mail openly poured scorn on Conservative MPs itself.

Reaction

On Twitter, members of the public have been quick to notice The Mail‘s cognitive dissonance:

Wednesday's Daily Mail: Social media to blame for fuelling abuse of Tories

Thursday's Daily Mail… pic.twitter.com/zohGFCmb3p

— The Sun Apologies (@SunApology) December 13, 2017

https://twitter.com/DeusExMackia/status/941112835966427136

The DM headlines illustrate the chaotic multiple personality disorder of the Tories as a species full stop, expediency above integrity every time! Hypocricy & obfuscation is in their DNA, never to be trusted to hold any policy or position for more than 24 hrs! #DontVoteToryEVER

— Steve Killigrew (@SteveKilligrew) December 14, 2017