The Daily Mail has had a torrid week, with a triple whammy of bad news for the paper.
The Daily Mail has had a torrid week, with a triple whammy of bad news for the paper.
For nearly two weeks before the local elections, it ran a ‘beergate’ campaign against Keir Starmer, accusing the Labour leader of breaking lockdown rules and drawing an equivalence to drinking beer and having curry with staff during a work event to the lockdown breaking parties that happened in Downing Street and Whitehall.
That campaign has failed miserably, after Durham Police today cleared the Labour leader and his deputy Angela Rayner of breaking lockdown rules. The police force said that they will not be issuing any fines and no further action will be taken. The entire saga was a load of nonsense whipped up by the paper.
Today we also learn that Prince Harry has won the first part of a legal battle against the Daily Mail after a judge ruled that parts of a Mail on Sunday story about the Duke of Sussex’s lawsuit against the Home Office were defamatory.
The paper ran a story in February with the headline: “Exclusive: How Prince Harry tried to keep his legal fight with the government over police bodyguards a secret… then – just minutes after the story broke – his PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute.”
The judge ruled that parts of the story were defamatory. Mr Justice Nicklin said a reader would think Harry “was responsible for public statements, issued on his behalf, which claimed that he was willing to pay for police protection in the UK, and that his legal challenge was to the Government’s refusal to permit him to do so, whereas the true position, as revealed in documents filed in the legal proceedings, was that he had only made the offer to pay after the proceedings had commenced”.
Justice Nicklin also said that to the ordinary reader the article appeared to claim that Harry “was responsible for trying to mislead and confuse the public as to the true position, which was ironic given that he now held a public role in tackling ‘misinformation”‘.
The Mail is also being brutally mocked over its front page today following the announcement by Boris Johnson that he would be resigning as Tory party leader.
It ran with the headline: “WHAT THE HELL HAVE THEY DONE?”, in disbelief that anyone could even contemplate booting out a prime minister known to be a habitual liar, bigot and law breaker.
One social media user wrote: “Paul Dacre justifying his knighthood I see”, while others were left in complete shock. One Twitter user wrote: “Find it astonishing how badly the Mail are misreading the public mood on this.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.