Brexit is in limbo - not for the first time either and probably not the last. We are waiting to see what sort of extension the EU are prepared to offer with most countries happy to give the three months requested while some, notably France, want to keep it to fifteen days. There might be a compromise but we wont't know until tomorrow. Johnson has spoken to Merkel to tell her that he doesn't want a delay - or so we are told by his 'spokesman'.
I add the rider at the end because I suspect Johnson actually does want a delay as desperately as anyone who knows the real consequences of dropping out without a deal. He just can't admit it without destroying the narrative being developed for the coming election, that it is Johnson fighting heroically and alone for the leave voter against powerful, shadowy forces ranged against the nation. So, who are these spokesmen who put out stories to the press which often seem to clash with logic, reality and the words of other ministers?
Two articles appeared on Tuesday about fake news from the very centre of government might help to explain things.
The first is by Peter Oborne, the Daily Mail journalist, who writes about the way Downing Street "sources" place stories in the press which bear little resemblance to the truth. The examples he gives are actually total fabrications, which find their way on to the front pages of The Mail, The Express, The Sun and other sundry right wing websites like Breitbart and Guido Fawkes. Instead of holding the mighty to account, the fourth estate are willing accomplices in spreading stories they almost certainly know to be untrue, something the journalists would know if they did some simple checking, but they don't bother. Presumably, because if they did, they wouldn't get fed some other juicy tit-bit later.
Journalists have become an arm of the government's fake news machine as Oborne says.
Journalists have become an arm of the government's fake news machine as Oborne says.
One of the stories he picks out is about Dominic Grieve and Hilary Benn being investigated as agents of a foreign power hell bent on stopping Brexit. Totally untrue but emanating straight from No 10. It is a very worrying trend. Of all MPs Grieve is certainly one of the most serious minded public servants and scrupulously honest. To be smeared as he was must have hurt.
Nick Cohen on the same day, writes on The Spectator Coffee House blog about Dominic Slack-Oxley a fictitious triumvirate assembled from Dominic Cummings, James Slack (previously of The Mail) and Simon Oxley. These are the 'spokesmen' who anonymously put out the lies with which half the nation gets fed on a daily basis. He also uses the Grieve story as an example. Here is an extract:
"Allow me to introduce Dominic Slack-Oxley. Never heard of him, I hear you cry. Oh but you have. You hear from him every time you pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV news. Slack-Oxley is everywhere. More than Facebook or Vladimir Putin, he is the most reliable source of fake news in Britain.
"When you read about ‘Downing Street sources’ saying with absolute authority that Boris Johnson would never send a letter to Brussels to extend the Article 50 deadline, only for him to do just that, Slack-Oxley is to blame. When political correspondents boast of their exclusive access to ‘Number 10 sources,’ ‘Government sources’ and the ‘Prime Minister’s official spokesman,’ they mean Dominic Slack-Oxley is using them to push out the latest propaganda line."
"Allow me to introduce Dominic Slack-Oxley. Never heard of him, I hear you cry. Oh but you have. You hear from him every time you pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV news. Slack-Oxley is everywhere. More than Facebook or Vladimir Putin, he is the most reliable source of fake news in Britain.
"When you read about ‘Downing Street sources’ saying with absolute authority that Boris Johnson would never send a letter to Brussels to extend the Article 50 deadline, only for him to do just that, Slack-Oxley is to blame. When political correspondents boast of their exclusive access to ‘Number 10 sources,’ ‘Government sources’ and the ‘Prime Minister’s official spokesman,’ they mean Dominic Slack-Oxley is using them to push out the latest propaganda line."
Our own prime ministers' press spokesmen are creating a terrible resentment among the population against politicians, particularly remainers, who are portrayed as blocking Brexit. Public trust in politicians has never been lower and Johnson's appointees are only likely to make things even worse.
The electorate, most of whom don't bother to inform themselves about anything, stagger from one confidence trickster to the next. Politicians are blamed but the real culprits are the parties who choose the candidates and those that elected them. In the Commons one sees men and women of extremely limited ability (some with none at all) who were chosen because they knew someone or they appealed to a selection panel made up of party members with equally limited ability. These stooges are then put before the electorate in safe seats and find themselves in parliament.
Governments are always fishing in a pond full of second rate men and women (not all, but a majority I would say). This is how Priti Patel got to be Home Secretary. If one watches parliament it is obvious that probably less than a hundred speak regularly. Most never speak at all. Some go on for years with no obvious talent for anything except claiming expenses and voting with their party.
At the next election, the few MPs with real thinking ability and courage are likely to be deselected and replaced by another party hack or a moron like Jared O'Mara who beat Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam. Nearly 22,000 people voted for him in 2017 and yet he never holds surgeries and isn't seen in the Commons either. The people who voted for him should all be interviewed and given a warning.
I really cannot see the situation being reversed for years - if ever.
When Brexit goes wrong - as it most certainly will sooner or later - the blame will be hung round the necks of men like Grieve and Benn and others. The real culprits, like Farage, Johnson and Cummings will firstly use the pliant right wing press to maintain everything is going well, even as unemployment rises and the economy falls. The bright future that Brexit was supposed to beckon in will always be a year or two away. When people realise they have been duped, it will be too late. An entire generation will have been betrayed. I despair.
This morning we learn of a split in government between those who want an election and those who want to get Brexit done. The next few days will be crucial - how often have I said that?
The electorate, most of whom don't bother to inform themselves about anything, stagger from one confidence trickster to the next. Politicians are blamed but the real culprits are the parties who choose the candidates and those that elected them. In the Commons one sees men and women of extremely limited ability (some with none at all) who were chosen because they knew someone or they appealed to a selection panel made up of party members with equally limited ability. These stooges are then put before the electorate in safe seats and find themselves in parliament.
Governments are always fishing in a pond full of second rate men and women (not all, but a majority I would say). This is how Priti Patel got to be Home Secretary. If one watches parliament it is obvious that probably less than a hundred speak regularly. Most never speak at all. Some go on for years with no obvious talent for anything except claiming expenses and voting with their party.
At the next election, the few MPs with real thinking ability and courage are likely to be deselected and replaced by another party hack or a moron like Jared O'Mara who beat Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam. Nearly 22,000 people voted for him in 2017 and yet he never holds surgeries and isn't seen in the Commons either. The people who voted for him should all be interviewed and given a warning.
I really cannot see the situation being reversed for years - if ever.
When Brexit goes wrong - as it most certainly will sooner or later - the blame will be hung round the necks of men like Grieve and Benn and others. The real culprits, like Farage, Johnson and Cummings will firstly use the pliant right wing press to maintain everything is going well, even as unemployment rises and the economy falls. The bright future that Brexit was supposed to beckon in will always be a year or two away. When people realise they have been duped, it will be too late. An entire generation will have been betrayed. I despair.
This morning we learn of a split in government between those who want an election and those who want to get Brexit done. The next few days will be crucial - how often have I said that?
