This article by Peter Walker in the Guardian ‘Cutting DEI won’t fill potholes’: Labour ready to play long game against Farage is presented as analysis but does little more than give unnamed officials a series of free hits with scripted attack lines.
The analysis "well they would say that, wouldn't they?" is conspicuous by its absence.
We are told what Labour aides “believe” Farage being grumpy about Labour attacking him on the NHS and closeness to Putin shows - that he “realises he is vulnerable on both issues”.
“He can try to airbrush history as much as he likes, but he said those fawning things about Putin on the record, and they have aged very badly,” one said.
I'm not one for asserting what other people believe but I would speculate that Labour aides can believe their luck getting this stuff into a friendly paper. It happens all the time.
A Labour official, possibly the same one, gets another free hit to speculate with another obviously scripted quote about what might happen if Reform take control of councils:
“Saying you’ll cut diversity and inclusion to save money won’t cut it when you’ve got a council to run,” a Labour official said. “You can trim all the DEI programmes you like, but that won’t fill the potholes or magic up any SEND pupil places.”
And the free hits keep coming:
“We will keep punching the bruises over Putin and the NHS, and while it’s probably too early in the cycle now, at some point the issue of fiscal credibility will become more and more important,” the Labour official said.
“But ultimately it’s about us delivering on things that people notice, whether it’s the money in their pocket, GP appointments or potholes.”
Ultimately the point of the piece is for Labour spin doctors - for that's who they are - to tell supporters who think now is the time to panic that it isn't and that they have a cunning plan.
Modern client journalism in a nutshell.
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