How unpleasant it has been over the past day to observe senior establishment journalists sit cosily alongside senior centrist and right-wing politicians and commentators, all agreeing on a single issue: Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s policies have led us to this point. Moreover, what indifference – even admiration – many of them seemed to display for the disturbing majority won by one of the most callous, deceitful and self-centered prime ministers the UK has had in living memory.
As the data emerges, there will be comprehensive analyses of what went wrong for Labour over the coming weeks (hint: Brexit will be a key factor), but at this moment it is worth highlighting something else, something arguably more important, because it cuts right to the heart of our so-called democracy: senior British journalists, across press and broadcasting, have failed the electorate, and their refusal to admit it and reform is putting us all in greater jeopardy.
No matter that the British public overwhelming supports Labour’s policies. And I’m not just talking about how establishment journalists have systematically delegitimised Corbyn and his party for the past four years, or how they’ve accommodated a coordinated effort by the UK military and intelligence establishment to undermine him. I’m talking about their increasing subordination to, and amalgamation with, the political establishment, which this election has been a textbook example of. Let’s recap.
