Following the resurfacing of an interview with Labour Party PM Keir Starmer on the The News Agents, the deputy leader of the Green Party has labelled them all ‘school yard bullies’. You can see why in the video below:
They’re just like school playground bullies.
It’s all so smug and cosy. https://t.co/RzY8qt2qrq
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) September 21, 2024
Comparing apples and phone-hackers
Going off their cover image alone, The News Agents is pure, undiluted media-class smugness:
The News Agents Podcast to take to the stage with a tour premiering at the Royal Albert Hall https://t.co/PKX4iBOrt3
— LBC News (@LBCNews) September 17, 2024
The hosts are ex-BBC smirkers Jon Sopel, Emily Maitlis, and Lewis Goodall, and some have described it as a “slick, expensive mess“. The 2023 interview has re-attracted criticism for lumping Jeremy Corbyn and Piers Morgan together – and you can see why.
On the one hand, we have Jeremy Corbyn – a man who was hounded by the media and politicians over a political crisis which Labour right-wingers recently admitted to engineering:
That observer article on Jeremy Corbyn is a bombshell. We all suspected it, but to have it confirmed in black and white that Morgan McSweeny & Labour Together helped concoct the anti-Semitism ‘crisis’ just to attack the left is astonishing.
— Curtis Daly (@CurtisDaly_) September 15, 2024
Amazing what can be said out in the open now, that would have gotten you denounced as a crank a few years ago.
The guardian have literally sacked people for saying less than this. https://t.co/vwygoQYH34 pic.twitter.com/eFQDze5N2y— Tom Hatfield (@WordMercenary) September 16, 2024
On the other hand, we have Piers Morgan – a man who pretends to be mad at sausage rolls for money (not to mention the phone hacking allegations).
Starmer immediately chose Morgan, of course, because he also pretends to be mad at things for financial benefit. A key example of this was when he pretended to be mad at ‘Tory sleaze’ only to get in power and start accepting freebies from anyone who offered them (not that he wasn’t doing this before becoming PM!).
The Prime Minister is a national distraction.
Millions of people are struggling to pay the bills, but Boris Johnson and his government are spending the whole time mopping up their own rule-breaking, sleaze and deceit.
He’s got to go.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) January 24, 2022
Morgan is also a member of the right-wing press that Starmer has bent over backwards to impress:
Starmer courted the right-wing press to get elected. He attended Murdoch’s summer party, FFS.
He also vowed to restore trust in British politics.
Instead, he’s taking bribes from the super-rich while inflicting austerity on the poor. Starmeroids are defending the indefensible. https://t.co/GSk0nFVjgW
— Frank Owen’s Legendary Paintbrush🥀🇵🇸🇾🇪 (@OwenPaintbrush) September 22, 2024
The News Agents interview went down poorly with many, as you might expect:
Keir Starmer “I’d like to pay tribute to Jeremy Corbyn,who is a friend and colleague.” Now Starmer would prefer to sit next to abomination Piers Morgan at Arsenal,given the choice. It just shows you what a lying,unprincipled fucking Spiv Starmer is.And worse,he supports genocide!
— Matthew Payne (@Matthew82069336) September 22, 2024
I find it revealing Starmer doesn’t even try to wriggle out the question in the time-honoured way politicians do.
Could have said “I’ll sit between them” or “I’d toss a coin” or “neither I have my own corporate box you fool!” (🙃) but he feels totally comfortable saying Morgan. https://t.co/X1MVEjTmiX
— Matt Cooper 🍉 (@MJC00per) September 22, 2024
Starmer: kiss, marry, kill?
Thank god we have serious journalists to ask serious politicians serious questions like ‘who would you rather sit next to at a football match’. Perhaps soon they can have a game of ‘kiss, marry, kill’ with Vladimir Putin, or ‘truth or dare’ with Kamala Harris.
In all seriousness, though, making Putin consider Piers Morgan in a game of ‘kiss, marry, kill’ might not have the worst results given his track record on that sort of thing.
Featured image via The News Agents (YouTube)
