Wednesday 26 August 2009

Has Murdoch launched a "Get Brown Out!" campaign?

The following is a direct quote from Jonathan Hunt of the Fox News Channel reporting on the Prime Minister's statement today:

Our viewers should know that that (Westminster has no control over the decision of the Scottish Parliament) is disengenous at best. The Scottish Parliament is not entirely independent of the UK Parliament... and it is clear to anyone who knows that political system that... Gordon Brown could have stopped the release if he wished to do so

Now, if that is not a clarion call to people in the US to encourage their British friends to vote Conservative at the next election, I do not know what is!

6 comments:

Morris Dancer said...

Does Murdoch take an active role in setting FOX's view?

The Sun certainly seems not to be a friend of Labour lately.

Anonymous said...

Whether Murdoch has or not the quote from Fox News is wrong on all counts.

Ted said...

Anon - it isn't wrong. Had the UK Government policy been that Megrahi should not be released either under the prisoner transfer or compassionate grounds then speeches from Brown & Miliband against that could have put great pressure on MacAskill.

The option to speak against release and in fact campaign against it has been there since the requests were first put in, the silence preceding the announcement speaks for itself. The UK Government created the conditions, did not oppose but looked to pass responsibility elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

Ted, I'm afraid you are wrong.

Brown and his gang can do and say what they like. Scotland has its own and completely separate legal system and it was under its provisions that Megrahi was released.

In fact, Scots, where under an SNP Assembly or not, can be rather pedantic about pointing this out (I once lived in Edinburgh) and doing what their legal system requires rather than bowing to the will of London - even if it's expressed from No 10.

I post as GeoffH on PB1 but can't be bothered with a Google account to get an identity here.

Lofa on the Sofa said...

Murdoch is going to change sides, he was a Thatcherite under Thatcher, waned under Major and switched to Blair when it was clear he was going to win. He only backs winners, his journalists need the access to those that count and that's not going to be Labour after the GE is it?

Rob Barnes said...

Encouraging Americans to encourage Brits to vote Tory?! We all know how successful that strategy was when the Guardian tried it in reverse a couple of presidential elections ago!