Friday, July 24, 2009
Malloch Brown: Banged to Rights
If you are a politician and you give an interview and then you claim you have been misrepresented, you'd better be damned sure the journalist hasn't recorded it. Mark Malloch Brown impugned the integrity of both Mary Riddell and the Daily Telegraph when he allowed Downing Street to put it about that his views had been misrepresented over the number of helicopters. The Telegraph have now hit back and published a recording of what Malloch Brown actually said. Perhaps he and the Foreign Office would now like to apologise to Mary Riddell.
Hattip Shane Greer
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27 comments:
NeoLabour twist, distort, and lie?
Hold the front page, we've gotta get the Kronkite on this baby.
Laughing at Malloch Brown and the Labour luvving Tellygraph.
Only NeoLabour's client state, the admittedly vast hordes of professional benefits scroungers, paper shufflers and the 'medically' unfit to work
still 'believe' what this wretched shower have to say.
This is something we all knew anyway. The REAL tradegy is that this is just one more lie. We have become de-sensitised to lies so it's hardly news-worthy. The DT have this half way down their page - well below Angelina Jolie visits Iraq.
It is tragic and a damning reflection on the British press and people. We have allowed a government to even lie about telling lies, they have called it spin - hardly a lie at all you see?
It is vile and sickening and this sort of thing ought to be shouted from the rooftops and the perpetrators driven out... now where's the rest of that cyder?
It's a good job he's resigning anyway really, isn't it?
One thing I really cannot understand. Why do otherwise sane people tell lies for Gordon? Why are they drawn into helping bolster his aberrant world view when we know its not true and they know that we know.
Is it fear?
But our troops are dying and still they lie and spin and dissemble.
Forget politics for a moment. This is truely shocking
Cynic said "One thing I really cannot understand. Why do otherwise sane people tell lies for Gordon? Why are they drawn into helping bolster his aberrant world view when we know its not true and they know that we know. Is it fear?"
Well, would you like a mobile phone thrown at your head? Or maybe to see the Prime Mentalist smashing up a laser printer in front of you because you said something he doesn't agree with?
Malloch Brown is NOT a politician. Is he Labour? Eh? A GOAT.
But any bit of video or audio, edited or otherwise, doesn't necessarily tell the whole story now does it? You know that Iain don't you? And also that GOATS don't get it. Not anything. MPs are bad enough? GOATS? What exactly has been M-B's "talent"?
He'd perhaps have been better off saying he got something a bit wrong, nuance wise, than that he was misrepresented. The whole helicopter/military equipment etc etc thing is quite odd.
All decisions whether from particular service, civil servants, junior ministers or cabinet minster of the time (including going back to Tory times when you have 20-30 year life spans for eqt) tend to be placed at PM's door.
That's not close to reasonable. Using war deaths as political football is disgraceful.
Thank God for Mr Brown's moral compass. I dread to think where we'd be without it.
I think it's "bang to rights", Iain. A small but, in this context, rather important correction...
is this a good day for burying bad news?
It just shows how easy it is for politicians to lie. He told the truth, that upset Brown so he lied to cover his tracks.
It tells you all you need to know about Labour and they just cannot be trusted.
It's hard to hear the relevant bit, but doesn't he say either:
"in these kind of wars, you know, YOU'RE ALWAYS OPERATING WITHOUT ENOUGH HELICOPTERS"
or
"in these kind of wars, you know, THE WORLD's ALWAYS OPERATING WITHOUT ENOUGH HELICOPTERS"
He doesn't quite say what the Times said he said. At least that's my listening of it. A shame, because I really enjoyed the reported bluntness of his comments. In this recording it's all a bit bland and throwaway.
Politicians LIE!
But so do the newspapers.
That is why the blogosphere has become the conveyor of the truth.
That is why we turn in ever increasing numbers to this and other blogs, to read what decent, ordinary people, have to say.
Without Blogs do you think the Telegraph would have released that tape? They may have written a verbatim account, but Brown and his wretched crew would still deny it.
The internet will force Parliamentarians to be more truthful.
But if this fool, Malloch Brown, had any decency he would resign today and in his explanation tell the truth!
Craig - excellent post. I too am puzzled why so many people (not just Labour politicians but the media too) carry on lying for Brown - even when the lies are transparent and the stakes, as in Afghanistan, are so high. Brown seems to have some peculiar psychological hold over those close to him.
Damn, that's a strange-looking painted hussy.
@strapworld: "That is why the blogosphere has become the conveyor of the truth." You're having a laugh, aren't you? Bloggers can lie just as much as the next man, you know! You should be more critical of everything you read, no matter the source.
As I understand it, the interview was recorded while Malloch Brown was suffering an unpleasant side-effect from his hay-fever medication (it suppresses adrenalin production, making deceit almost impossible!)
This journalist should be ashamed of herself for interviewing a government minister at a time when he was unable to lie!
As much as I think that Gordon Brown is a lying and loathsome individual, I'm not sure this recording does have him "bang to rights".
In context Malloch Brown said that the plan was that there should have been a much larger number of troops from all countries in Helmand.
Helicopters are needed for ferrying troops to and from hot spots rather than by road. Once they reach the hot spot, they patrol and fight on foot. Transport helicopters are then of no use.
The key point of context, is that with more troops available, then you are less likely to need to ferry troops across large distances to help deal with a hot spot.
I do, however, think that Brown has funded the war on the cheap and that he should have provided more helicopters. This recording is not the smoking that gun that proves this viewpoint.
I have always said "Socialist's and the truth are strange bedfellows"
Just hav to look at every left of centre government, and truth,,,,is not in their lexicon.
I read somewhere that Gordon compares himself to Winston Churchill, so maybe a qote the Great Man to a very much inferior wannabe
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Winston Churchill
Its clear that Brown's Beria got to him and forced him to retract, regardless of his competence as a politician (Mr Paul). That's the salient point.
@ Chris Paul
"Using war deaths as political football is disgraceful."
So, how would you use 'war deaths', then?
And which particular 'war deaths' would they be?
Malloch Brown has a very interesting history - including his prolonged spat with John Bolton.
"Using war deaths as political football is disgraceful." -- and your charge is disgraceful.
The government have committed troops to a task and have consistently not equipped them for it. Not only that - they have turned their backs repeatability on perfectly reasonable ways to increase helicopters (buying Blackhawks) - leaving our troops needlessly - NEEDLESSLY - exposed.
Shooting the messenger again Mr Paul - pathetic.
Unsworth - yes I am sure that the reason M-B was appointed was is spat with Bolton and his critisism of Bush. A way of brown to curry favour with his left. M-B of course was in charge of the notoriously corrupot UN Oil for Food scam.
Despite all the lie-hype, and I have no brief for Brown and wish the story was correct, in fact the recording does not quite confirm the story.
The "smoking-gun" section is indistinct. M-B may be saying "definately don't have enough helicopters" but it also sounds like "never have enough helicopters" - and I suspect it's the latter.
All this story really proves is that journalists make more of comments than is really the case. Popes are also catholic.
Labour conceding 3rd place in N.N (SKY rept.)
Is this man using deaths for politics
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6725388.ece
"A former SAS commander accused the Government yesterday of lying to the public over Afghanistan, saying that British forces lack the support they need."
Politicians lie, bloggers lie, human beings lie. It's foolish in the extreme to believe that the blogosphere is some kind of sacred source of truth. And when are Tories going to stop playing cheap and tawdry political games with military deaths?
Speaking of lies --- Liam Byrne has said that cutting interest rates to 0.5% and 'putting 20 billion' into the economy (presumably the VAT cut) 'is supporting' 450,000 jobs.
What bollocks.
hhmm I wonder if Malloch Brown knows that he has been "banged to rights". Sounds extremely painful.
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