Watch James O'Brien's Stunned Reaction To Blair's Mail Attack
22 February 2017, 13:11 | Updated: 22 February 2017, 13:19
Tony Blair has launched an unprecedented attack on the Daily Mail for their coverage of his part in the release of a jihadi. James was completely stunned by what the former Prime Minister had to say.
"That is pretty much conclusive proof that people in the profession known as journalism don't even pretend to tell you the truth any more."
James started by reading Tony Blair's "unprecedented" statement, attacking the Daily Mail for its claims about his part in the release of Ronald Fiddler. Fiddler, also known as Jamal al-Harith, had been a detainee at Guantanamo Bay who was released in 2004 after lobbying by Blair's government.
This week he died in a jihadi attack for Islamic State in Mosul.
Read Tony Blair's Full Statement On The Daily Mail
In a statement that accused the Daily Mail of "utter hypocrisy" for blaming the former Prime Minister over Fiddler's release, Blair said that the release "followed a massive media and Parliamentary campaign, led by the Daily Mail, the very paper that is now supposedly so outraged."
James was stunned by Blair's statement.
"That's incredible. That's absolutely unprecedented. And that is pretty much conclusive proof that people in the profession known as journalism don't even pretend to tell you the truth any more.
"That's incredible. From the point of it being a Daily Mail campaing calling for his release, right through to the fact the compensation was agreed by David Cameron's government, not the Labour government.
"If you were going out with a bloke who lied to you or misled you in the way that newspaper has apparently covered this story, you wouldn't trust him again. And if you did, and he cheated on you again, all of your friends would call you a mug.
"But what's going to happen tomorrow? We'll have another story, served up in a very similar way, designed to continue this narrative of division and destruction."
