pap for the proletariat
There’s a witty quip doing the rounds currently with regards to the News International and police scandal in that we should all be relieved that the News of the World is now helping the police with their inquiries: it used to be the other way round. Boom, boom. But many a true world spoken in jest?
In the careers of all prime ministers there comes a turning point in their favour with the public and after which they’re damaged goods. For Neville Chamberlain it was his paper waiving ‘peace in our time’ claim; the Profumo affair saw off Harold Macmillan; Ted Heath’s nemesis was the miners’ strike of 1972 and subsequent return to the polls in 1974; Jim Callahan faired no better with the unions as evidenced by the three day week and power cuts of the late 70s; Michael Foot’s undoing was his scruffy coat at the cenotaph (and poor Michael wasn’t even PM!); Iraq did it for Tony Blair and black Wednesday for John Major (though salmonella egg queen Edwina Currie was also secretly doing for him at the same time!). For Darling Dave could the unveiling of his affluent and amoral Cotswolds Chipping Norton set be his?
It’s now accepted that behind the chintz and lace curtains of chocolate-box England some of the most powerful people in Britain built and cemented their self-serving relationships. The Camerons are only a short hop from Red Rebekah and her Old Etonian husband, Charlie Brooks, and are forever popping round for supper. Over Crimbo, and only a few short days after Cameron had publically demoted avowed Murdoch enemy, Vince Cable, they enjoyed a lovely lunch together with Charlie’s boss, James Murdoch. Uh oh. At Brook’s wedding to Rebekah, Cameron was seen ‘high-fiving’ with his pal, PR supremo and husband of Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, Matthew Freud. And let’s not even go down the Andy Coulson route. Smell that smell? And what’s a grown man doing high-fiving in the first place? He’ll be borrowing Willy Haig’s baseball cap next. Oh and his initial response to the Christmas get-together was to claim that he dined with her as she was one of his constituents. He’s undoubtedly going to be putting some weight on as he has a further 77,000 to dine with!
Where exactly did all this begin and should we be surprised at the situation that’s unfolding before us? For my money it all rests on the shoulders of the Iron Lady. In the late 70s our Maggie knew she needed public support to push through her planned labour reforms and what better way than to get into bed with the most power hungry, most ambitious and most greedy of the lot. It was just the most perfect relationship and served them both as well as the other. Look how they both benefited in equal measure during the 80s. For decades we have had to witness politicians of all hue bow, scrape and kiss the ring of king-maker Rupert. The phrase ‘if power corrupts then absolute power corrupts absolutely’ has never been more apt than in this relationship.
So Thatcher created popular capitalism and Murdoch was more than happy to push it down our collective throats at every opportunity. A nation of greedy, isolated, materialistic, money motivated, celebrity and scandal obsessed pedants is what we’ve morphed into. Personally, I can honestly claim I’ve never bought any of Murdoch’s rags, wouldn’t read any of them through choice and am concerned not a jot by neither the demise of the News of the World nor his ‘day in the Sun’, so to speak! The paper’s staple diet of randy footballers, misbehaving politicians, adulterous celebrities and no-name-no-marks will not be missed in my household. And did anyone else catch the picture of Rupert and James in the limousine after their ‘humbling’ appearance? Believe me, they could not have been smiling any wider.
I’m in no doubt there’s far far more to come out of this and as any journalist would say ‘this story has the legs to run, and run, and run, and run. Police, politicians, media, celebrities, scandal, gossip and hubris, it’s got it all and almost makes it worthwhile buying a red-top rag this Sunday!
