{"id":5591,"date":"2022-02-07T23:12:18","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T21:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/?p=5591"},"modified":"2022-02-08T01:48:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T23:48:55","slug":"boris-johnson-smears-starmer-corbyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/2022-02-07\/boris-johnson-smears-starmer-corbyn\/","title":{"rendered":"Didn’t those enraged at Boris Johnson\u2019s \u2018smears\u2019 of Starmer defame Corbyn at every turn?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The media outrage at Johnson linking the Labour leader to Jimmy Savile is because his comments\u00a0inadvertently\u00a0exposed the dark underbelly of the British establishment<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Why is Boris Johnson making false claims about Starmer and Savile?\u201d runs a headline<\/a> in the news pages of the Guardian. It is just one of a barrage of indignant recent stories in the British media, rushing to the defence of the opposition leader, Sir Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n

The reason? Last week the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, blamed Starmer, now the Labour party leader, for failing to prosecute\u00a0Jimmy Savile, a TV presenter and serial child abuser,\u00a0when his case came under police review in 2009. Between 2008 and 2013,\u00a0Starmer was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Savile died in 2011 before he could face justice.<\/p>\n

Johnson accused Starmer, who at the time was Director of Public Prosecutions, of wasting \u201chis time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile\u201d.<\/p>\n

The sudden chorus of outrage at Johnson impugning Starmer\u2019s reputation is strange in many different ways. It is not as though Johnson has a record of good behaviour. His whole political persona is built on the idea of his being a rascal, a clown, a chancer.<\/p>\n

He is also a well-documented liar. Few, least of all in the media, cared much about his pattern of lying until now. Indeed, most observers have long pointed out that his popularity was based on his mischief-making and his populist guise as an anti-establishment politician. No one, apart from his political opponents, seemed too bothered.<\/p>\n

And it is also not as though there are not lots of other, more critically important things relating to Johnson to be far more enraged about, even before we consider his catastrophic handling of the pandemic, and his raiding of the public coffers to enrich his crony friends and party donors.<\/p>\n

Jumping ship<\/h3>\n

Johnson is currently embroiled in the so-called \u201cpartygate\u201d scandal. He \u00a0attended \u2013 and his closest officials appear to have organised \u2013 several gatherings at his residence in Downing Street in 2020 and 2021 at a time when the rest of the country was under strict lockdown. For the first time the public mood has shifted<\/a> against Johnson.<\/p>\n

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My latest: The media's watchdog role is an illusion. The current scandal over Boris Johnson's lockdown parties reveals just how dependent journalists are on government https:\/\/t.co\/BxykcG3qfc<\/a><\/p>\n

— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) January 21, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n