James Responds To Daily Mail's "Crush The Saboteurs" Front Page
19 April 2017, 11:03 | Updated: 25 April 2017, 14:10
"Every time you think things might calm down, along comes the Daily Mail to absolutely reignite the flames of fury and unrighteous indignation."
The day after Theresa May called for a snap election in June, the Daily Mail's front page message was simple: "Crush The Saboteurs".
James O'Brien was compelled to respond to it as he opened his show on LBC. For him, today's front page might go down in history with the infamous 'Enemies of the People' splash the paper ran about the High Court judges who ruled on Brexit.
"As people are very fond of saying, we are where we are. And where we are is headed for the exit, it's just a question of which exit we're going to go through.
"The suggestion that we're going to go through the worst available exit is something surely that you feel qualified to question. It's reasonable to say: is that really a good idea? Except it's not.
"The best proof of this is provided by the man who actually runs the country, the editor of the Daily Mail Paul Dacre."
This is the front page in full:
James continued: "I think it's going to go up there with 'Enemies of the People', isn't it?
"First of all they've chosen a picture of her which is unflattering, I think it's fair to say...this will have [Dacre's] fingerprints all over it.
"But this phrase here: 'Crush The Saboteurs'.
"Every time you think things might calm down, along comes the Daily Mail to absolutely reignite the flames of fury and unrighteous indignation.
"'Crush The Saboteurs' - what does that even mean?!
"'Crush The Saboteurs' seems to me to be the opposite of democracy.
