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‘Unethical’ Sun has harmed Tories, says Zac Goldsmith
The Mole: Is Zac working for the other side? Or is he actually right?
If you didn't know any better, you might assume Zac Goldsmith, environmentalist son of the late Sir James Goldsmith and - until this week, anyway - one of David Cameron's bright hopes for the future of the Conservative party, was working secretly for the Labour Party.
As The Mole reported on Monday, Zac, the prospective Tory candidate for Richmond Park in the upcoming general election, is already causing problems for Cameron after it became public knowledge that the young millionaire is taking advantage of non-dom tax status.
This is a particularly raw subject in Tory ranks because of the continued refusal of the Conservatives' deputy chairman, Lord Aschcroft, to come clean about his residency status.
Now, just when you might have expected young Zac to retreat to the shadows and let the chit-chat over his fortune go away, he has instead grabbed the opportunity of a London lecture to say the currently unthinkable: that the backing of the Sun newspaper has harmed the Tories.
This is truly embarrassing for Cameron. It comes only weeks after the country's biggest newspaper announced it could no longer support Gordon Brown and was throwing its weight behind Dave's Tories. Zac might think it a sordid little rag, but in senior Tory circles its support is seen as a godsend.
Zac's sacrilegious remarks came as he talked about the Sun's recent treatment of Gordon Brown over the issue of the wrongly spelt letter the PM wrote to the grieving mother of a soldier who died on duty in Afghanistan.
"[My] heart went out to Gordon Brown," said Goldsmith, "and I was repulsed by the Sun and I thought 'My God, I did not want this newspaper to be backing my campaign.' It is immoral and unethical and wrong. The Conservative party by default got caught up by this which is a shame."
A spokesman for Cameron, asked for a comment yesterday, snapped: "Zac is a candidate, not a frontbencher. He does not have influence over policy."
And never will do, if he goes on like this.
There is, however, one point in Zac's favour - he could actually be right about the Sun's support harming Tory chances. Opinion polls show that since the Murdoch paper came out for Dave, the gap between the Tories and Labour has narrowed. ·
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I don't think the Sun has done the Conservatives any favours in its behaviour since officially saying it is backing them. Well done to Zac Goldsmith for speaking out but the Conservatives are only following Labour in courting Rupert Murdoch. He's a businessman not a politician so he will support whatever party he thinks will fit in with his business aims.
It was joked that Margaret Thatcher was so domineering over her Government, that she would first tell her cabinet what she thought and then she would tell them what they thought. Tabloid newspapers do carry enoromous weight when it comes to swaying their partly informed floating readers with semi-hysterical propaganda. The editorials also have a habit of insisting that their readers can make their own minds up. Then they proceed to tell them what they think.
I do wish this nonsense about the Sun swinging the election result would stop. Murdoch is an opportunist, the same as everyone else. He supports the party who looks most likely to win. The Sun's backing for the Tories is an EFFECT of the Tories' popularity, not the cause of it. And if the Tories win next year, Murdoch will celebrate as a punter, not a trainer.
Zac is spot on about the Sun and, by implication, its owner. He, and a lot of other new Tory candidates should question Cameron's judgment in accepting any support from Murdoch. He should thank his stars that it is a newspaper and not a TV channel for this is the nearest Murdoch has in the UK to Fox News in the USA which supported the Republican defeat last year and which has been a source of virulent obstruction as Obama seeks to sort out the mess Bush and the Republicans left him.
It is interesting to recall that it was not that long ago, when Tony Blair and New Labour were gearing up to win an election, that there was a cosy little meeting in Queensland between Blair, Paul Keating (Australia's LABOUR PM) and Murdoch. How come Murdoch was interested in meeting with two prominent Labour politicians. There must have been something profitable in it for him. It clearly demonstrates that he has no political stance at all. He sides with those who he believes might be more willing to allow his business interests to develop unhindered. One thing is sure. He has as much ethical sensitivity as his paper. Or is it the other way round. So stick with it Zac and spread the word.
I loathe the Sun. I am a Tory Party member and I am ashamed that we are in hock to Murdoch.