On 18 September, Boris Johnson was confronted by an angry parent while visiting a children’s ward.
The parent said the situation was “not acceptable” and told the PM:
There are not enough people on this ward, there are not enough doctors, there’s not enough nurses, it’s not well organised enough.
The NHS has been destroyed … and now you come here for a press opportunity.
But that canny political editor at the obviously totally unbiased BBC, Laura Kuenssberg, thought she’d caught the man out:
Turns out the man who challenged the PM is also a Labour activist
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) September 18, 2019
Enter Paul Mason
Luckily journalist Paul Mason was on hand to set the record straight:
Thanks for reporting that. It shows that our party of 500,000+ people is everywhere, among people suffering as the Conservatives destroy our health and welfare systems, and that even chosen at random they can make the PM look like a pillock…
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) September 18, 2019
Because whether or not the man is a “Labour activist” is totally beside the point. And unlike Johnson using sick children as a press opportunity, this parent confronted him because he has a sick child in the hospital:
https://twitter.com/OmarSalem/status/1174301286692532224?s=20
It gets worse
Kuenssberg then sent out a tweet identifying the parent to her 1.1m followers:
This is him here https://t.co/77Hqqo9Avz
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) September 18, 2019
Although the parent had tweeted that himself, people pointed out to Kuenssberg what the impact of her highlighting him might be:
Jesus, what on earth are you doing? You have a large, privileged platform. You shouldn’t use it like this.
Do you ever wonder why people question your impartiality?
— Rachael Swindon #WeAreCollective (@Rachael_Swindon) September 18, 2019
https://twitter.com/Pieford/status/1174331330978635777?s=20
Other people highlighted what the real story is:
Your journalistic prowess should allow you to notice that people have a go at Bohnson wherever he goes. That a parent of a sick child in the ward when Bohnson arrived supports Labour isn’t the story. The state of the NHS is the story. Does his politics demand he keeps quiet?
— 💥Guido Tallman💥 (@GuidoTallman) September 18, 2019
Others questioned:
https://twitter.com/JennieMacfie/status/1174323708946763778?s=20
The bottom line is that the parent of a sick child confronted the PM because he happened to turn up at the ward where his sick child is being cared for. Yet somehow a BBC journalist thinks providing evidence of his activism somehow negates his views or his experiences.
This really is a new low, even by the BBC‘s abysmal standards.
Featured image via screengrab and Wikimedia/Marta Jara
.jpg){kind=link}