A selection of coverage of the “war” or “crisis” in the Labour Party from the British press.
“You’ve agreed to write the article. You want to plunge the knife in. But not too far.” – Jesse Armstrong (Guardian)
“Leading opponents of Mr Brown believe the Cabinet “greybeards” will not wield the knife and that any September revolution will have to be led by backbenchers.” – Patrick Hennessy (Telegraph)
“Denis MacShane attacks the unnamed briefers and those in the media who would knife Gordon Brown.” – Sub editor intro to Denis MacShane (New Statesman)
“Miliband twists the knife over Brown’s gaffes” – Daily Express headline
“You might get rid of someone you don’t like but, in the process, you touch off a positively Corsican cycle of revenge knifings.” – Dan Hannan (Telegraph)
Next week they’ll go back to screeching about teen knife crime and ask how it’s become so acceptable.
Recess Monkey often wonders at what point the use of hyperbole in the UK press will become so ridiculous that variations in Ministers’ dinner choices will become “U-Turns”, cabinet reshuffles will become “nuclear explosions” and the PM greeting continental leaders with kisses on the cheek will become “statutory man rape”.
UPDATE: Paddy’s name has been corrected - just put the knife down - no trouble here…
Bonoboy
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I think it would be fair to say that Mr Clarke is a regular...
Oi! Spell my name right you useless tosseurs!
Patrick Hennessy said this on August 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Where to begin with this? First of all, the possibility of a prime minister getting deposed - which is a distinct possibility, this autumn if not now - is arguably a big news story. Dramatic language is appropriate. It’s easy to forget this because we’ve got so used to ‘Labour in crisis’ stories, but the importance of the issue is a constant. We can argue about media bias or whether the media are hyping up the story, but let’s not pretend that Labour’s problems in general, or the threat to Brown’s position in particular, are a media invention.
Secondly, this sort of hyperbole (if you want to call it that) is not a recent development. Perhaps most famously, Harold Macmillan’s dismissal of seven cabinet ministers in July 1962 was dubbed ‘The Night of The Long Knives’. And that wasn’t even a change of leader.
The media over- and under-report tons of things every day. This is not one of them.
Rene Lavanchy said this on August 1st, 2008 at 10:19 pm