Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

'Leftist @BBC Maitlis' - here pushing the 1935 myth - did her bit to help Johnson's Tories beat Corbyn's Labour in 2019. And in the ashes of our broken, polarised country, with millions facing poverty, & our economy & public services ruined, NOW she's found her voice? 🧐

In July 2007, Maitlis was appointed as a (unpaid) contributing editor to billionaire Barclay's right-wing #Spectator. This was approved by her immediate manager, then head of @BBCNews Peter Horrocks, but the decision was subsequently overturned by BBC News director Helen Boaden.

By 2019/20, Maitlis was amongst the highest paid @BBCNews & current affairs staff, receiving a salary between £370,000-£374,999!

This was just over a decade after Peter Mandelson said: "We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich - as long as they pay their taxes."

In her 'easy opposition' tweet, Maitlis didn't bother to check her facts, or she'd have known there wasn't a general election in 1936.

The *1935* GE did result in a large, albeit reduced, majority for the NATIONAL (coalition) Government, led by the Tory, Stanley Baldwin.

The mythical "disastrous" election result that Maitlis refers to, was actually characterised by the RESURGENCE of @UKLabour, who made net GAINS OF OVER 100 SEATS, & their highest share of the vote yet, under what was regarded internally as the caretaker leadership of Clem Attlee.

In a 2019 interview, Maitlis said she was sceptical about the charge that people like her are the “elite”, existing in a liberal bubble, where everyone knows everyone else - despite having Piers Morgan as 'a good friend', & having Emma Thompson’s number in her mobile. 😬

Maitlis's response to the charge that she is part of the 'elite' (her hubby is an Investment Manager, & she hangs out with Piers Morgan) is: “We understand that word for what it is... incredibly elitist people try & gain the populist upper hand by calling everyone else elite.”

“There was a time when everyone was cowed by it. It was like somebody shouting: ‘You’re a racist,’ & you think, ‘Oh my God, what have I said, what have I done?’ Now I hear that word & I just, dare I say, roll my eyes... You have to be very careful as to who’s actually using it.”

Maitlis's husband - whom she met in Hong Kong while he was working in equity capital markets - is investment manager Mark Gwynne. From September 1999 to May 2007, he worked for Merrill Lynch. She proposed to him while on holiday in Mauritius in 2000. So definitely not elite.

Maitlis & her husband often stay at his parents' country estate. Her husband grew up doing 'traditional upper class sports' such as polo, & was taught hunting, fishing & shooting, which is DEFINITELY not elitist, & of course, they'd have NOTHING against Corbyn or his policies.😬

Tom Mills argues that Maitlis’ criticisms of the BBC “are best understood as an expression of a conflict between the liberal and conservative wings of the British establishment… a conflict in which the latter is proving more and more antagonistic”.

Maitlis is a Capital 'C' Centrist who was comfortable at the @BBC, which over the years has shifted so far to the Right that the moderate & sensible policies espoused by Corbyn's Labour - popular & mundane across much of Europe - are mischaracterised as 'radical' or 'hard-left'.

While #Newsnight has criticised the right’s divisive, scapegoating populism, it's rarely as vicious, misleading or mocking as when it's criticising the populist Left. When the Left complain, it's ignored. When the Right complain, it's all over the press...

As for #GE2019, all but two of the Tory gains were in Leave constituencies, so Brexit seems to have been an important factor, along with the press & broadcast news media having for FOUR YEARS relentlessly demonised Corbyn, & framed Labour policies as economically risky & extreme.

Will end with this. 🧐