Do the Tories and their media allies know they could get Jeremy Corbyn killed?
The Sun recently remarked that Jeremy Corbyn had met with a member of the Czech intelligence service, and was an informer of the Soviet regime — since then, the story has been repeated and repeated by those on the right of politics, despite no evidence to back up the story but one unreliable, and frankly delusional, source (who also claimed the Czech’s were responsible for Live Aid).
The head of the Czech Security Forces Archive has said that allegations are untrue. And an analyst with the defence ministry of the Czech Republic agreed, saying that Sarkocy (the source) was a liar. Yet the story still seems to run…
Th
e Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson jumped on the smear bandwagon saying that Corbyn had “never had Britain’s interests at heart”, and claimed he had met with foreign spies, which he said was a “betrayal of this country.”
Ben Bradley, MP for Mansfield took to Twitter to allege that Corbyn “Sold British secrets to communist spies. He has since removed his tweet and issued a full apology after contact from Corbyn’s lawyers and the threat of a libel case.
A report by The Independent found that 75% of press coverage misrepresents Jeremy Corbyn. The Media’s vested interests are well known, Corbyn wants to close down tax loopholes that Media baron’s use to hide their wealth from the taxman, but for democratically elected politicians to give their lies credibility is almost beyond belief, and very worrying.
These desperate attempts to tarnish Corbyn’s reputation are dangerous. They could get him killed.
Darren Osborne, 48, was jailed last month for murder and attempted murder after he drove a white van into a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque. During his trial, Osborne admitted he wanted to kill Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
And of course, lest we forget the late Jo Cox, MP for Batley & Spen, who was fatally shot and stabbed by far-right fanatic Thomas Mair before a constituents’ surgery in the run-up to the EU referendum.
When government ministers give credence to entirely false and ridiculous smears not only do they demean their office and undermine our democracy, they give an air of credibility to such trains of thoughts that can lead to the kind of extremism that ended in the murder of MP Jo Cox — let’s not make the same mistakes again.
Radicalisation is not a problem just within Islam, and the media and politicians have to be more careful with their use of language and line of attack. The slow-burning hate created by such stories and repeated inflammation can lead to grave consequences.
