Remember Alex Salmond? The former SNP leader is back. Since 2017 his little-known programme, The Alex Salmond Show, has aired weekly on RT which receives its funding from the Kremlin. Today at PMQs the party leaders combined to plug Salmond’s programme and to boost his ratings.
It wasn’t a debate. It was a 30-minute Salmond advert. Sir Keir Starmer began by suggesting that RT’s licence should be revoked. ‘I see no reason why it should continue to broadcast.’
Boris replied that Ofcom and not politicians should make that decision. But he added that he believes in ‘free speech’. In other words, he opposes a ban on RT. A political choice, obviously. And Ofcom will have heard the PM loud and clear. And his wish to protect RT has nothing to do with ‘free speech’, it’s all about ‘free hits’. While RT continues, he can attack his enemies at will for spouting pro-Kremlin propaganda on Putin’s poodle channel. He needs RT to survive. He’s not the only one.
If RT survives, this much is clear. Salmond’s ratings will shoot up
Jamie Stone, of the Lib Dems, called Salmond ‘a disgrace’, and that he should be prevented from ‘broadcasting his half-baked views week after week.’ This didn’t mean what it appeared to mean. Stone was using the tough love approach and hoping to attract the attention of Salmond’s producers. Like most MPs, Stone would love to get the chance to mouth off on RT.
The same lust for attention has always affected Ian Blackford whose two questions at PMQs are the closest he’ll ever get to his own TV programme. Blackford was extremely rude about Russian oligarchs living in Britain.‘A sewer of dirty Russian money has been allowed to run through London for years,’ he said.
Has it not occurred to him that the oligarchs flock to these shores so that they can breathe the same air as Blackford and perhaps absorb the secrets of his distinguished rhetoric? Next he tried to embroil the Tories in the ‘sewer’ of questionable cash. He mentioned ‘golden handshakes’ and alleged that £2.3 million had been handed to the Conservatives by dodgy oligarchs.
Boris denied that this was dirty cash. Far from it, he said. The Tory begging bowl is rattled only at citizens who are legally registered to vote here. But what does that mean exactly? Only that the generous oligarchs collect a UK passport as part of the deal when they donate to the party.
The PM added that Blackford’s outrage was entirely bogus, ‘coming from someone whose very own Alex Salmond is a leading presenter on RT.’ Blackford boiled over at this. Boris knows perfectly well that Salmond long ago quit the SNP to lead his breakaway Alba party. As PMQs ended, Blackford leapt upon a point of order and said that his glorious party had been ‘traduced’ by the Prime Minister.
No one was listening. The chamber had already emptied out as members hurried off to catch up on the latest edition of The Alex Salmond Show.
If RT survives, this much is clear. Salmond’s ratings will shoot up. The revenue generated during his ad breaks will soar as well. His agent will demand, and receive, a massive pay-rise from the Kremlin. And that, in turn, will punish Putin financially. But the net result will be yet more Russian money flooding into Britain via Salmond’s bank account. The next question is how the great broadcaster will blow his windfall. If he’s wise, he’ll snap up one of the London mega-mansions which are currently being vacated by newly sanctioned oligarchs. Apparently, these blinged-up palaces are going cheap.
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