Paul Flowers: The Moral High Ground

THERE is one question that still hasn’t been answered about drug-snorting, boy-renting, drink-driving, expenses-fiddling, porn-obsessed “Rev” Paul Flowers.

How on earth could such a squalid character climb so high up the greasy pole without someone in the ever-watchful Labour family blowing the whistle?

There are corrupt politicians in all parties. But Labour like to claim the moral high ground — a bit like the “ethical” Co-op Bank — while denouncing Tories as the “Nasty Party”.

So when one of their very own is exposed as a drug-addled pervert posturing as a Methodist cleric and chairman of that same ethical Co-op Bank, it deserves a closer look...

Trevor Kavanagh, The Sun.

Kavanagh then suggests - without a shred of evidence - Flowers may have been part of some sinister cabal; "Party leaders should be worried that evidence will now emerge that Flowers was not alone in the sort of misconduct which brings into question the culture, practices and ethics of the Labour Party."

He even manages to bring in Cyril Smith and Jimmy Savile!
It's not hard to see what Trevor Kavanagh wants to infer by this.

The accompanying cartoon, above, is disappointingly restrained - where are the lost-looking naked rent boys?

The Sun also manage to rewrite and spin a simple statement from Paul Flowers' lawyer, Andy Hollas; "He feels he has been the victim of a rather nasty sting operation.
“He’s been emotionally vulnerable for some 18 months — since the death of his mother, Muriel. He’s a very moral man and he feels let down by the people he trusted.”*
These three statements of fact become;

SEX and drugs Rev Paul Flowers refuses to shoulder the blame for his sensational fall from grace — insisting: “I’m the VICTIM.”

The pathetic ex-bank boss, 63, told pals he turned to cocaine and rent boys after his mum died from cancer.

He reeled off a list of shameless excuses to his Labour-supporting lawyer Andy Hollas after cops nicked him last week. Flowers — who was quizzed for allegedly buying crystal meth, cocaine and ketamine — even branded his plight a WITCH-HUNT.

He didn't say that, but it is.

Morland cartoon in The Times.

* The unedited statement reads; “He feels he has been the victim of a rather nasty sting operation which has left him emotionally recuperating.
“He’s feeling very hurt and upset. He’s been emotionally vulnerable for some 18 months or so – certainly since the death of his mother.”
“The man is very moral. He has been bruised emotionally. He feels let down by the people he trusted.”

The Sun: Natural's Not In It

Baffling cartoon in The Sun to accompany some random - possibly drunken - babbling on gay marriage by Trevor Kavanagh.
Note this is a rare tabloid cartoon where THE GAYS are caricatured as masc butch ever-so manly Desperate Dan types, and not wilting pansies.
Just like the "Gay Nazi" one in the Daily Mail last year.
Subliminal message 1: These people are bullying thugs.
Subliminal message 2: These people are totally ridic.
Subliminal message 3: Natural's not in it.
Kavanagh concludes; "Sometimes, logic can drive you crazy."
Evidently. 
This heaven gives me migraine etc etc.

Update: I've only just noticed the cartoon actually shows a bowl of... wilting pansies!
FFS.
Subliminal message 4...

Simon Hughes: What's The Story?

Much of the initial online coverage of Simon Hughes' appearance before the Leveson Inquiry has got the story arse-over-tit, using variations on the headline:
'Simon Hughes: The Sun used phone records to force me to come out'
Though obviously highly relevant to Leveson, this is hardly news.
It was known from the start that Simon Hughes had only "come out" because The Sun told him - blackmailed him, really - that they had phone records which showed that he'd phoned a gay chatline.
The Sun's front page story is missing from their online archive, but here's the interview with Trevor Kavanagh:
Hughes: I've had gay sex' "As Mr Hughes opened his heart during the interview he also admitted phoning a gay chat service Man Talk."
The Independent commented the following day; "It was the revelation that The Sun had learnt he had phoned a gay chat service - Man Talk - that finally persuaded Mr Hughes..."
Okay?
The real story today was something completely different.
It is that the Met were clearly aware at the time of Simon Hughes' outing that News International journalists were regularly illegally tapping into peoples' phones.
And that, rather than prosecute, they covered this up for five years.

Here is the Simon Hughes' Leveson transcript.