Independent Media | Campaigning Journalism
BBC hatchet job on Jeremy Corbyn immediately backfires as Labour takes remarkable poll lead
It looks like a BBC Panorama hatchet job on Jeremy Corbyn has immediately backfired. And the ongoing smear campaign over Labour and antisemitism doesn’t seem to be working.
Six points ahead
Survation were the only pollsters to accurately represent the new electorate in the 2017 election. And in their latest poll, conducted between 10 and 11 July, Labour took a six point lead:
Westminster voting intention:
LAB: 29% (+3)
CON: 23% (-1)
BREX: 20% (-)
LDEM: 19% (-)
GRN: 3% (-2)via @Survation, 10 – 11 Jul
Chgs. w/ 20 Jun— Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 12, 2019
The Panorama episode Is Labour Antisemitic? aired on the evening of 10 July. And what’s predominantly a smear campaign has been ongoing. For instance, Corbyn supporter and campaigner for internal Labour democracy Chris Williamson was re-suspended from the party in the face of attacks from the Labour right and corporate media.
Criticising the latest Panorama episode, Labour accused the BBC of malicious propaganda:
The Panorama programme and the BBC have engaged in deliberate and malicious representations designed to mislead the public.
The BBC says “we completely reject any accusations of bias or dishonesty”.
Meanwhile, despite relentless corporate media coverage, disciplinary cases relating to antisemitism among Labour members since September 2015 relate to 0.06% of party’s 540,000-strong membership. Labour says:
This represents a tiny minority, but one antisemite is one too many, and we will continue to act against this repugnant form of racism.
Good news for Labour
Labour is also ahead in the latest polls from Com Res (by three points) and Opinium (by two points). In recent YouGov polls, Labour support has been significantly lower. But Survation came closest to predicting the 2017 result, where the Conservatives won by two points. YouGov, along with other pollsters, was way off:
Final Con leads by pollster:
BMG: +13
ICM: +12
ComRes: +10
Panelbase: +8
Opinium: +7
TNS: +5
YouGov: +7
Survation: +1
Ipsos Mori: awaiting.— Britain Elects (@britainelects) June 7, 2017
The latest Survation poll doesn’t bode well for those trying to destroy Corbyn’s transformational programme. In fact, it suggests the public can see right through the attack campaign. And it’s certainly cause for celebration for Labour supporters.
Featured image via OfficialJeremyCorbynChannel/ YouTube and BBC Panorama/ YouTube
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The more I learn of these attacks on Corbyn, the more I want to vote for his party and the policies he puts forward. The BBC and The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/14/observer-view-antisemitism-in-labour-jeremy-corbyn) are relentless in their propaganda war against the Left. I hope the general public doesn’t get taken in.
At the risk of sounding somewhat cynical – well, that is in fact my intent – have those constantly repeating claims that the Labour party is anti-semitic considered the possibility that a lot of people who harbour anti-semitic views might therefore now consider voting Labour?
Just heard Andrew Marr, interviewing Emily Thornberry on this subject, defending Panorama by telling us: “it isn’t just the BBC, it’s the Times as well …… “.
Thank you, James Wright. I feel much better now.
I find it funny that after years of negative media against Jeremy he is still popular as ever, hopefully he will be Prime Minister one day and we can see some real change in this country after 40 years of neo liberalism.