In the context of what he said, he and Boris had a lot of unauthorised conversations with her and only her. That's wrong on so many levels. She also presents these conversations as anonymous sources. That's textbook client journalism. That's why she has stopped tweeting. She should be embarrassed. She even started replying other journalists saying they were wrong on different stories. Her credibility is shot.
Westminster Politics
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
True but with a significant caveat: what is she trading for that access and influence? If what she's trading is just being a mouthpiece of the government, if that's her special role, then it isn't a good trade-off for the public and it isn't good journalistic practice.
I don't think he's said anything that explicitly drops her in it but the implications are there and she'll have questions to answer now.
Kuenssberg hasn't tweeted since Cummings dropped her in it
She's gone from live tweeting to retweeting the BBC politics thread!
Is the chair being played by Harry Enfield?
Yep, agree with that.
Her reporting was problematic because it was always suspected to be repetition without challenge of briefings from either Johnson or Cummings. Nobody had any proof of that though because nobody could ever prove her sources.
We now have it coming from the horses mouth that Johnson and Cummings were both meeting with her regularly and using her as a trusted platform for their spin to be propagated.
In real terms we knew her sources came from there though, because they had to. And if she wasn't speaking to them then she wasn't doing her job properly. So Cummings being revealed as a source isn't an actual problem for her, at all. She can literally just say "yes I spoke to Cummings, because I'm supposed to speak to Cummings".
The repetition without challenging part is the problem. And if Cummings said that's what she had been doing in exchange for information then that would be a huge issue. But he didn't, which is why I was surprised by the idea that she's been dropped in it. It's something she can very comfortably brush off.
The latter was never a real problem for her when her sources were anonymous. They become a big problem for her now we know for a fact that she was definitely just an exclusive mouthpiece for Johnson/Cummings.
Inject himself with COVID on live TV? This is some The Thick of It shit right there. Completely mental.
No one is saying she is in any danger of anything but suspicions about her have been confirmed. This is all about her credibility and the BBC should care about it.
She is knowingly being used as a tool to spread government spin. She presents unofficial government line (Cummings/Boris) in a way that cannot be challenged regardless of the truth. For a self proclaimed impartial broadcaster, that cannot be acceptable. Please read this. Articulates what we are saying better than anyone here can.
British journalists have become part of Johnson’s fake news machine | openDemocracy
Johnson seems like he’s being very careful not to explicitly deny any specific details. I think he knows Cummings has audio recordings and if he is caught denying anything that can be undeniably proven then his defence falls apart, he’s going to let it play out and reserve the defence of “well that’s out of context” or “what I meant was...”
Hancock getting both barrels again saying he interferes with Test and Trace in order to fudge the numbers so he could go on TV and claim he has been hitting the targets.
That's no surprise or new news, I recall one target was 'hit' because they dispatched a load of tests in the posts to people.
Directly contradicts what Johnson said in PMQs.
If what Cummings says is true... absolutely feck all will happen.
Hmm. Isn't it quite a bit more serious than that though.
Here we have the man who was central to Boris Johnson policy making, the man who was after all advising the PM.
And most importantly, the man who the PM had total faith in.
And of course the man who the PM personally backed when he knew perfectly well was telling lies. Something that the PM does all the time.
Yes, Cummings is a total shit.
But Boris knew that and yet not only backed him, but went on to award a massive pay rise.
The clear point here is that all of this calls into question Boris Johnson judgement.
And as a result, calls into question his competence.
Are the BBC going to have Laura K providing any sort of commentary or analysis of this?
If she’s on her way out it’s not because she’s broken journalistic standards it will be because she’s useless to Johnson now.
If she’s on her way out it’s not because she’s broken journalistic standards it will be because she’s useless to Johnson now.
Quite right. Anyone who thinks that you can get some sort of privileged information for nothing is seriously deluded.
Already had the Tory spin doctors on twitter saying 'But we had a successful roll out of the vaccine'....
Yes it has been a highly successful vaccine roll out.
But that in no way should predicate the chaos and incompetence before that.
And let us not forget that the vaccine roll out was carried out by the NHS and the many thousands of volunteers. Boris cannot claim full credit for that without accepting the shambles and disaster beforehand. You really can't have it both ways.
This is such a compelling watch. Absolutely fascinating. Cummins just tore a strip off BJ for “picking a fight with Rashford”
I loved that. You don’t pick a fight with Marcus Rashford, that’s just madness.
Listen wisely Villarreal.
Cummings saying that Boris regretted the first lock down and said he should have been like the Mayor in Jaws and left the beaches open... and didn't want the second lockdown when scientists were telling him to do it in September.
It's crazy... that negligence and idiocy cost so many lives.
It's crazy... that negligence and idiocy cost so many lives.
He also made a comparison to Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day at one point when talking about graphs. Either the guy's on a wind-up or is a major movie buff.
This is the kind of hearing that would result in a resignation or a firing
Fortunately Cummings did everything he could to make sure Johnson got the role of Prime Minister... oh wait that doesn’t add up.
Read between the lines....
I helped him to become PM so that I could lead as PM from the shadows as I look like someone used an app to shrink all my features and nobody would ever take me seriously as an actual politician.
Imagine being Matt Hancock.
Or tomorrow's voting intention polls - Con(+11).