Russian coup at London newspaper
mainThe KGB owners, the Lebedev family, have secured George Osborne, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, as editor of the London Evening Standard, a freesheet.
They broke the news through their former pet editor of the ‘Independent’ newspaper, Amol Rajan, who is now the BBC’s media editor.
That’s how the Russians operate. They buy up politicians and plant their own people in places of influence. That Lebedev can buy a recent Chancellor shows how well they have succeeded. Osborne will remain an MP, waiting for the PM to slip on a banana skin.
We are being well and truly infiltrated.
Declaration of interest: I resigned as Assistant Editor of the Standard in 2009 when the paper was sold to the Lebedevs, and before it became a freesheet.
Is he a qualified journalist and a member of the NUJ?
Er, no… why should be be? I think a proprietor decides who edits the paper.
Perhaps the union should choose the editor, eh?
You might as well expect people in PR to be ‘qualified’.
The problem is the sheer time commitment – and the massive potential for conflicts of interest.
Why would qualified journalists who are members of a chapel/NUJ want to work with him?
Why? Because they would not want to be out of work and unable to pay their bills.
Because we no longer live in the 1970s, with closed shops for ‘professions’ that are no such thing.
If you are a doctor, that is a closed shop, and needs to be. A journo? Not so much.
Was Iain Macleod a member of the NUJ when he edited the Spectator? Give over.
Are there any regular normal doors in British politics? Or are they all revolving ones?
Osborne’s conflicts of interest – MP, ex-minister, Black Rock, McCain Institute, the speech-giving schedule and now Evening Standard tell a story which is so brazen. They really give the game away.
Those who pay the piper call the tune, and possibly have all along. Are these piper-payers all calling for the same tune? Some may well but if I were a constituent in Tatton I would doubt whether my interests were top of George’s list of priorities.