Alastair Campbell accuses Brexit-backing papers of plumbing 'fresh depths of dishonesty’
Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell has lashed out at newspapers backing a British exit from Europe, accusing them of lying and failing to serve the public.
In his Observer column, he said that the input from the “the wretched rightwing press” has been worse than he has ever seen during his long career in the media.
In particular, Campbell lashed out at The Sun’s report earlier this week that the Queen backs the Brexit, endangering her traditional held political impartiality despite the Sun editor Tony Gallagher’s claims that the story had two sources backing it.
Campbell branded the story as “cock”, adding: “The Sun has dragged the Queen into the whole thing, taking something that was almost certainly never said to make a claim that she supported the Out campaign. I had a fair bit to do with the royals and the often crazy coverage of them in my time in Downing Street.
“Based on that experience, and her ability to shrug off without complaint so many false stories written about her, I can pretty much guarantee this – the fact the Palace has made a complaint to Ipso, the so-called independent press regulator, means the story is a load of cock.”
The newspaper has stood by its story, insisting it had “multiple sources”.
He concluded: “More than in any such debate I can remember, large chunks of the press have totally given up on the role of properly informing public debate.
“TheMail, the Sun, the Express, and the Star in particular, to a lesser extent the Telegraph and, on a bad day, the Times, are more propaganda sheets for one side of the argument.”