Left-wing trolls lay into BBC’s Laura... for reporting news
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg faced fierce criticism yesterday after appearing to defend Dominic Cummings following reports that he had flouted lockdown rules.
Within 30 minutes of the story breaking on Friday night, Miss Kuenssberg shared a rebuttal from an unnamed source claiming that the Prime Minister’s senior aide’s 260-mile trip from London to his parents’ home in Durham was ‘within [the] guidelines’.
In response to the Daily Mirror journalist who broke the story, Miss Kuenssberg tweeted: ‘Source says his trip was within guidelines as Cummings went to stay with his parents so they could help with childcare while he and his wife were ill – they insist no breach of lockdown’. Her reply was immediately met by a chorus of condemnation from Labour-supporting trolls, with some accusing her of being a ‘mouthpiece for the Government’ and a ‘Tory stooge’.
As of last night, her reply had received almost 16,000 responses.
Piers Morgan described her explanation as ‘absolute nonsense’, while former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell demanded Miss
Kuenssberg ‘get a grip’ for repeatedly relying on ‘sources close to Dominic Cummings’.
Philosopher A. C. Grayling also took issue, tweeting: ‘It’s time to end anonymous “No 10 source” (=Cummings) briefings (=to Laura Kuenssberg) =lies, propaganda, spin, dead cats etc.’
Sir Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, said: ‘My trust in Laura Kuenssberg, for whom I had some respect, is fading fast.’ Last night, the hashtag ‘sackkuenssberg’ was trending on Twitter.
However, others leapt to her defence. Former Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: ‘Whoever the villain is today, it isn’t Laura Kuenssberg.’
And former Labour MP Ian Austin described the criticisms levelled at her as ‘utter rubbish’.
Miss Kuenssberg also sent a tweet which again quoted an unnamed source claiming it was ‘not true’ that Cummings had been spoken to by police. She later clarified, however, that officers had spoken to the ‘owners of house where “an individual” was staying who had travelled from London to Durham’.
It is not the first time Miss Kuenssberg has been attacked in the course of her job. At the Labour Party conference in 2017, she had to be protected by security guards following abuse she had received for her reporting on Jeremy Corbyn. Critics claimed she was not neutral and treated the former Labour leader unfairly.
Miss Kuenssberg has previously said that she would ‘die in a ditch for the impartiality of the BBC’.