To the Windy City, where the Democratic National Convention is in full swing. In the early hours of this morning, outgoing President Joe Biden bid an emotional farewell to conference delegates to pave the way for Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign, and former US leader Barack Obama is due to speak today. But besides the big names of the moment, Mr S spotted something rather interesting about just how the DNC has been received in comparison to its Republican counterpart by some of the noisiest voices in UK media…
When a selection of British politicians decided to make the transatlantic voyage to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention last month, not everyone was supportive of the international trip. UK journalists pestered Liz Truss about why she was there, quizzing the unimpressed former prime minister about whether or not she’d received a personal invite from Trump. Ex-Beeb star and News Agents host Emily Maitlis slammed the RNC room as being full of ‘cranks and weirdos’, adding that the conversations being had there were ‘utterly dystopian’. Charming!
Maitlis’ podcasting posse was particularly unpleasant about the appearance of Reform leader Nigel Farage at the Donald Trump-headlined event.
In fact, Maitlis’ podcasting posse was particularly unpleasant about the appearance of Reform leader Nigel Farage at the Donald Trump-headlined event. Grilled by Maitlis about why exactly he wasn’t back in Clacton on constituency work, the Reform politician told the ‘news agent’ that, given the recent assassination attempt made on Trump, ‘it was right that I came… When [my friends] are having a tough time, it’s right to go and support them.’ Lewis Goodall further mocked the Reform politician on the pod before Jon Sopel sniggered: ‘I wonder whether Joe Biden knows where Clacton in Essex is. Probably not.’ No wonder they were glad to get shot of the Beeb’s impartiality rules, eh?
Yet everything’s different at the DNC. Labour Together chief Jonathan Ashworth, the party’s general secretary David Evans and a delegation of officials have flown to Chicagoland which, the Mirror excitedly reported, will ‘share strategy tips with [Harris’s] campaign team’. And, of course, the ever-present, ‘centrist dad’ podcasters can be found enthusiastically milling about too, with former Blair man Alastair Campbell already gushing over the speeches.
And instead of slating the convention, the News Agents cast look positively ecstatic to be there. Goodall and Sopel can hardly contain their excitement about their own Chicago venture, taking to Twitter to post a jubilant picture from inside the venue. Little has been said so far by these great agents of news, however, about the, er, Labour MPs who have taken a break from their constituencies to jet off across the pond. MPs Lucy Rigby and Mike Tapp – interviewed by Freddy Gray – are also at the DNC, adding to the Starmtrooper numbers. Should we expect a Goodall-Sopel interrogation of the lefty lot’s presence to drop? Don’t hold your breath…
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