What would the Sun do if this story was about Jeremy Corbyn?
These are the times that try men’s souls.
Claims the prime minister placed his honourable member in the mouth of a dead pig’s head while a student at Oxford, are like manna from heaven for the tabloid press.
All things being equal, Lord Ashcroft’s claims, published in today’s Daily Mail, would (to mix animal metaphors) be milked for all they are worth by a newspaper like the Sun.
But for Rupert Murdoch’s flagship red-top, some animals are more equal than others.
For while the Sun delighted in running cartoons about Ed Miliband every day for the last five years, never missing a chance to ridicule the Labour party leader, his rival David Cameron has been largely spared the same treatment.
Now the paper is faced with a choice.
Will the Sun cover the pig’s head claims as if the ‘private parts’ in question belonged to a Labour rather than Tory minister?
Put simply: what would the Sun do if this story was about Jeremy Corbyn?
Already the paper has begun cartooning Miliband’s replacement – including over his love life, decades after events took place.
How can it justify leaving a target as fat as this go by?
The Sun’s websites have started the bidding today in typical style. Now the question is:
Will the Sun put #piggate on its front page tomorrow?
Will there be giant headline puns and mock-up photos and cartoons?
Or will the paper lay bare its party bias, and make a joke of its claim to equal opportunity irreverence?
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Adam Barnett is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow MediaWatch on Twitter
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34 Responses to “Will the Sun put #piggate on its front page tomorrow?”
Patrick Nelson
“Has everybody lost all sense of honour and decency? This disgusting
allegation about David Cameron has not been substantiated by a named
source or photographic evidence and yet people speak as if it gospel
truth. I am not a fan of the PM, but I do feel a degree of respect for
his office and for his family. What have we come to? A slavering mob
that has lost all sense of discretion and fair play, and Mr Barnett
wants the Sun to continue the withch hunt. I despair of this country.”
You are quite right as hospital beds disappear…
as the homeless numbers rise…
as the food banks multiply…
as the support for low paid workers decreases
as the disabled kill themselves because they have been classed as fit for work…
as the remaining ball is cut off the unions leaving workers unprotected…
as the bosses plot to inflict TTIP upon us…
and as the country is subverted for the needs of the few against the many…
we are all pondering on whether David Cameron is a pig ******* when we aready know that he is a ****** ******r.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/09/21/09/2C96B3D900000578-0-image-a-3_1442825641839.jpg
Patrick Nelson
Yes you are quite right. Its disgusting that the Tories are using this pig molesting rumour to hide the real truth reflected in this song : )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW0Zr8lsJ3Q
daijohn
The subject is the Sun’s reaction to the story and what it would do if it were Jeremy Corbyn. Since when did the Sun seek the evidential criteria you mention?
Patrick Nelson
“For many “socialist “simply implies communist…………….Now that’s really bad…………..unless you’re Tory then it’s good to get into bed with those who eat DOG, and build nuclear power stations.”
Spot on and we get treacherous junta types clearly threatening a coup against the 2020 Labour socialist landslide that they are pooping their pants about, yet the Tories are letting China (a quite realistic potential future enemy) build nuclear power plants here. Have the potential security issues with this not entered their claret addled cocaine fuzzled heads?
https://aripspodcast.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/pig-sticking-out-his-tongue.jpg?w=300&h=225
JoeDM
The extreme left do not have any ‘honour and decency’.
‘honour and decency’ is the target of cultural marxism.