On Tuesday night Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn began his first shadow cabinet reshuffle. Prime Minister David Cameron has had several and it was almost inevitable that Corbyn would do the same, but the right wing media have been whipped into a frenzy in recent weeks, labelling it a revenge reshuffle. The same media outlets of course have been printing pages of hype about the lack of unity in the Labour party so the biggest surprise was possibly the fact that Corbyn only moved two people.

Barnsley MP, Michael Dugher was sacked, supposedly for being disloyal which came as little surprise to anyone- probably including Dugher. He has been very vocal in his opposition to his party leader and was particularly defiant over Syria.

He wasn’t alone in that defiance of course and the highest profile victim of the reshuffle was thought to be Hilary Benn, who many are tipping to replace Corbyn as leader following his impressive, impassioned speech during the Syria debate. Benn though survived the reshuffle amid more claims that he has been muzzled in exchange for keeping his place at the table. Benn of course denies this. Anyone who has followed politics even in passing will know that no elected MP would admit to such a muzzling whether it be the case or not.

The anti-Labour, anti-Corbyn dialogue has continued since his election with bias of the BBC and several newspapers becoming increasingly frustrating for many critics.

Such is the bias and get-Labour agenda that the BBC, afraid to upset David Cameron and his friends under threat of losing the licence fee, desperately sunk to new lows on Wednesday by persuading a shadow minister to quit his role in the shadow cabinet live on the beeb’s flagship politics show The Daily Politics.

BBC political editor, Laura Kuenssberg and Andrew Neil were visibly excited and thrilled to have such a coop on the show. A blog on the BBC Academy site (which has since been removed) written by a producer of the show, described how the team led by Kuenssberg persuaded angry Stephen Doughty to resign live on air, referring to the conversation as sealing the deal.

Two other Labour MPs; Kevan Jones and Jonathan Reynolds, also resigned from the shadow cabinet, although they had the dignity to do so less publicly. Jones, a shadow defence minister, who came to prominence after talking about his personal experiences of depression, accused the party leadership of dishonesty. Jonathan Reynolds, a shadow transport minister who was one of the youngest MP’s elected in 2010 at just 29, quit his position on the front bench claiming he could best serve the party as a back bencher, and expressing his support for sacked Pat McFadden.

McFadden said he was sacked for comments he made following terrorist attacks in Paris, but shadow chancellor John McDonnell said McFadden was sacked for disloyalty and undermining the leaders view.

So much nonsense is printed these days about the party that it is difficult to decide what the truth is but there can be little doubt that claims the party is in disarray are  accurate. Corbyn very publicly gave his MPs a free vote on Syria and 9 of them chose to vote against his wishes. Benn was most loudly praised for his speech by most people, some of whom didn’t necessarily agree with the points he raised.

One of his most vocal critics Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, has apparently come undone in recent days after inappropriate texts were sent to a 17 year old. Mr Danczuk, who has been in the Labour party since the 1980’s faces expulsion from the party after the teenager revealed the sleazy exchanges to The Sun. Before focusing his energy on attacking the leadership, Danczuk revealed he had suffered depression and alcohol abuse caused by his campaigning historical child sex abuse cases, predominantly alleged to involve former Liberal  MP Cyril Smith, which is widely credited as contributing greatly to an independent inquiry into CSA.

 

I’m not defending Mr Danczuc’s recent actions – attacking the leader of the party that you have a member of for almost 30 years is never going to help the party, the electorate or the leader. His position is one of great responsibility and as such he should not be engaging in such conversations with teenagers, however it does seem convenient that the details of these private texts fell into the grubby hands of Rupert Murdoch.

The BBC and its editor should remember that the job of a journalist is to report the news not make the news. They should offer fair and unbiased commentary that allows the viewer to make an informed opinion on matters that are important. Successive governments have failed to halt Murdoch’s power instead courting his approval and friendship, whoring their true values in exchange for a few inches of positive press. The Shambles in which we now find ourselves will not be resolved until the journalists and the presenters stop giving us fiction and opinion and start dealing in facts.