From this showing, ‘Our Next Prime Minister’ will be a worse embarrassment than the last one

“Alternate reality”: Rory Stewart despairs of the BBC’s televised debate between himself and the other Tory leadership candidates. Was it something they said?

What the hell was Emily Maitlis doing, agreeing with Michael Gove that Jeremy Corbyn indulges anti-Semitism when he so obviously does not?

She came out with her extraordinary outburst during the BBC televised Conservative leadership debate, in which Michael Gove responded appallingly to concerns over Islamophobia raised by a Bristolian imam. Here’s that gentleman, explaining himself on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/AbdullahPatel94/status/1141088399241207815

https://twitter.com/AbdullahPatel94/status/1141088403984986113

Yes he did. Here it is – Michael Gove is so proud of his defamatory statement that he turned it into an infographic:

He went on to highlight the moment when Mr Corbyn accused two Zionist activists of failing to understand irony when they disrupted an event at which a Palestinian representative was speaking as an example of the Labour leader’s behaviour. The incident has long since been explained: Mr Corbyn was correctly referring specifically to the two individuals concerned but politically-motivated critics had, in bad faith, reinterpreted his words to claim that he was referring to all Jews. The claim is utterly ludicrous.

And Emily Maitlis – the host – supported Mr Gove! She cut off any further comment, saying: “I’m sure you all do agree.”

Quick reminder: The BBC is under investigation by Ofcom, under suspicion of violating its first duty – impartiality. It seems clear that Ms Maitlis was keen to ensure that Ofcom finds against her employer, all by herself.

Result: Public outrage:

“Her bias was showing,” tweeted ‘Biker Wolfie With Pilllion Daniel Blake.

“And people say BBC news isn’t biased,” added Nick Mapson.

“Really! That is outrageous!” exclaimed Linda Scott.

The only one who came out of that worse than Ms Maitlis was Mr Gove himself:

Mr Gove seems to have a Corbyn fixation. He also said: “Jeremy Corbyn isn’t interested in helping working people; he’s interested in standing up for the Iranian regime,” in a direct reference to the controversy over attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman (The US and the UK foreign office have blamed Iran without concrete evidence and Mr Corbyn has said proof is required).

https://twitter.com/SkyeCitySeries/status/1141085970328096768

If anything good came from that debate, it was Sajid Javid’s apparent securing of agreement from all the candidates that an independent investigation should be held into Islamophobia in the Conservative Party.

Another question was about what the candidates would do to lift the tax burden on the working classes – and Rory Stewart attracted undue flak, despite being the only person giving a realistic answer.

He said he wasn’t thinking about promises for the next 15 days, but about the next 15 years.

The questioner’s response defies belief:

What a swivel-eyed loon!

Jeremy Hunt shamed himself when he said the Conservatives had cut social care funding too much. The problem with that answer is obvious:

Mr Hunt also came out with a howler when he claimed that the UK was one of the most open and accepting countries for people of other ethnicities than the majority. That simply isn’t true any more, and the reason is divisive rhetoric from the Conservative government that has set racism soaring.

At least he got through the whole hour without hearing his name mispronounced once.

Who came out of it best? Rory Stewart, according to the public.

It’s probably because he responded to the comments of his fellow candidates in the same way as the rest of the viewing public:

Interviewed afterwards, he was questioned on why he took off his tie (and on why his performance was “lacklustre”, which seems to be another example of BBC bias). He replied that he had felt as though he had been drawn into an “alternate reality” and was trying to re-establish a sense of what was genuine:

He wasn’t alone:

https://twitter.com/PhilJDore/status/1141064066296897536

Boris Johnson – the front-runner in terms of votes cast by his follow Conservative MPs – was absolutely nowhere. Asked if, as prime minister, he would do the decent thing and call a general election in order to gain a mandate from the public, he said no.

Ms Maitlis pounced: “‘It’s the arrogance’ – that’s what you said when Gordon Brown became prime minister. ‘That’s what gets me. Gordon Brown will now be in 10 Downing Street without a mandate from the British people. No-one elected Gordon Brown as prime minister. Let’s have an election without delay.’ Why does the same not apply this time?”

Mr Johnson replied: “Because he wasn’t taking over in the context of a national political crisis in which we have to get Brexit over the line.”

It doesn’t take a genius to come up with appropriate response to that howler:

https://twitter.com/mattforde/status/1141072808904187905

The final verdict:

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


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8 Comments

  1. Zippi June 19, 2019 at 1:30 am - Reply

    I had to stop watching. What was Emily Maitlis doing? She exercised zero control. It was painful to watch and none of them covered himself in glory. Rory was the only one who might have gotten away with it but the others… Micheal Gove needs to check his facts and could, in my opinion, be sued for slander, for what he said about Jeremy Corbyn. As for Jeremy Hunt, talking about racial tolerance, in relation to a question about religious intolerance and words having consequences; was he not the man who, famously, forgot where his wife is from and why refer to her as “an immigrant?” Hypocrites, the lot of them. Quarrelling, like schoolboys. Nobody was listening and the answers to the questions… were they to questions that anybody actually asked? This should have been a serious debate. I missed the start so, I know not if Emily Maitlis made clear the rules, regarding conduct; from what I saw, there was no order, no respect… no clue. Statesmen? Shocking state!

  2. Gary June 19, 2019 at 5:26 am - Reply

    I see that people, albeit they are Tories, are beginning to wonder just exactly WHO’S candidate Rory Stewart is. They seem to have suddenly realised he is MI6 (ex MI6?) and therefore his loyalties may not lie with the party, but his employers (ex employers?)

    If he had been in the running we would end up being run (in effect) by the faceless and unaccountable organisation that is MI6, in the news this weeks for mining unnecessary public data and keeping it for ‘future use’ They truly are Big Brother.

    However, he’s not in the running and unless Boris does something that sickens his own core support, and I have no idea what could be bad enough to put THEM off, then he is a shoe in for PM.

    Blond buffoon, who ‘thinks’ on the hoof, a racist, misogynist who will alienate everyone and kill YET MORE poor and vulnerable people for his supporters amusement…

  3. loonytoonz June 19, 2019 at 6:08 am - Reply

    Omfg note to self, don’t watch stuff as horrific as that at silly o’clock when I’ve woken in pain….. Between sending my BP into orbit with the brown stuff oozing outta all their mouths and the playground bully-boy behaviour exhibited by them all, I stood no chance of getting back to sleep.
    I think I will need years of therapy!
    If that’s seriously the best on offer, please crawl back under your rocks and take your nasty party with you. The country does not need or deserve a bunch of utter creepy clowns ainm, good vieing to squat in no 10

  4. Stu June 19, 2019 at 8:20 am - Reply

    Remember we are talking of greedy, self-serving Tories.
    Trump praising Hunt has no doubt promised to hand the NHS over on a platter to the USA.
    Gove is keeping the Corbyn bashing alive to keep his wife employed by the Daily Heil and serving their interests – right wing press are terrified of a Labour Government.

  5. nmac064 June 19, 2019 at 8:29 am - Reply

    What a shower of utter scum. As Professor Dorling has said, “They may well be clever, but they are certainly extremely stupid.”

  6. trev June 19, 2019 at 10:52 am - Reply

    Emily Maitless is obviously a Tory (her previous involvement with The Spectator) but I think the BBC is perhaps not so much pro-Tory biased as it is very definitely anti-Corbyn biased. The Establishment will do all it can to prevent a leftwing Socialist government.

  7. Colin Clarke June 19, 2019 at 12:27 pm - Reply

    I wonder what would happen if they made Conservatives tell the truth, the whole truth and, NOTHING but the truth?

  8. Growing Flame June 19, 2019 at 9:36 pm - Reply

    Rory Stewart,despite looking like an anorexic schoolboy, was the last Tory candidate capable of appealing to voters outside of the usual Tory supporters. And he has just been humiliated with less Tory MP votes than he got last time. A bit like the US Republican Party, the Tories have opted to support the bloated buffoon option as they have lost faith in reasoned argument and credible policies.

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