James O'Brien Skewers The Daily Mail Over House Of Lords Headline
10 May 2018, 14:48
The Daily Mail says "It's time to pull the plug on the Lords". But James O'Brien shows their opinion was VERY different in 2003.
James fished out an editorial from the tabloid in 2003, which read: "The truth is, this Prime Minister hates the robustly-independent Lords which has proved a more effective check on an over-mighty executive than the Commons. Now he wants a Lords full of placemen, puppets and toadies."
That is at odds with today's front page, which labelled the peers "traitors" and states "it's time to pull the plug on the Lords".
Speaking on his LBC show, James said: "Today the Daily Mail tells you, because the Daily Mail thinks you're stupid, that 'It's time to pull the plug on the Lords'.
"Why? I'll tell you why, because whoever wrote that headline hates the robustly-independent Lords which has proved a more effective check on an over-mighty executive than the Commons.
"And literally, the reason why the front page of The Daily Mail today says it's time to pull the plug on the Lords is precisely because whoever wrote that headline hates the robustly-independent Lords, right? Everyone can agree on that, even the most arch Brexiter listening.
"And the word traitors on the front page of a national newspaper. Traitors. The language of charlatans and dangerous demagogues throughout history has always had traitors at the top of the vocab list."
