DEFLECTOR SHIELDS TO MAXIMUM!

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If you thought Newsnight was bad....
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Further to my previous post, Mark Easton's attention-deflecting story about MPs and their freebie holidays amazingly led last night's The World Tonight instead of what even Michael Crick on Newsnight admitted what a more serious story, the case of the 5 Labour/1 Conservative politicians caught out by Dispatches over cash for access, the sort of thing that brought down the forces of hell on Neil Hamilton & co in the mid 1990s: "It's ten o'clock. This is 'The World Tonight' with Ritula Shah. A BBC investigation has found widespread abuse of Commons rules by MPs who've failed to declare in full trips paid for by foreign governments. We'll be hearing from the former parliamentary standards watchdog."

How stupid to they think we are? Do they think we can't see that this remarkable coincidence of timing - two sleaze stories on the same day - is far too convenient for Labour and its supporters? That we can't see which is worse (though both are bad)? I'm not a man for conspiracy theories, but this really smacks of conspiracy!
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Ritula continued, "Downing Street has said there's no need for a government inquiry into claims that former ministers secured changes in policy on behalf of private companies." Ah well, that's all right then! As usual the BBC quotes the Labour denial first.
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The news bulletin that followed made the point the BBC wants us to take onboard from its new story: "The research identifies more than 20 MPs representing all the major parties".
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The BBC has a woeful record over investigating MPs expenses. The Daily Telegraph and Channel 4, whose Dispatches featured the glorious Heather Brooke (the real heroine of the story) some time before the Great Expenses Scandal erupted last year, have been the media pioneers here. The BBC has much preferred to pass over the issue. It has never been a leader. Now suddenly, on the very evening of Channel 4's latest moment of glory over the issue, out comes this (less important) story, which just happens to catch Conservatives as well as Labour MPs. How long have the BBC been sitting on the results of their 'investigation'? Have they been waiting for just this moment, when their beloved Labour Party is hit especially hard by an expenses story? Did they release the results tonight merely as a spoiler aimed at Channel 4 - which is the most charitable interpretation I can think of? Or did they scramble through the Register of Members' Interests today to cobble something together? Watching how the BBC has been spinning this story so far leads me to only one conclusion as to their motive here - to help the Labour Party in its hour of need.
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