Former Labour candidate Bella Sankey has returned to Sky News to once again score political points against the government, this time over the Ukraine crisis. Having previously appeared on the channel to call Priti Patel’s asylum seeker policy “cruel, illogical, incoherent”, this morning she attempted to link the Ukrainian refugee programme to Brexit, claiming the government “can’t let go of that [Brexit] ideology” and has had to be “dragged kicking and screaming to make even the most minor commitments” to Ukrainian refugees. Apparently this is all a part of a “xenophobic sentiment” at the core of government. At no point did Sky point out that Sankey ran as a Labour Party candidate in 2019…
I'm Bella Sankey, the Labour candidate for Arundel & South Downs. A vote for #Labour is the strongest statement you can make against austerity. 🌹 We doubled our vote share here in the last election and we are fighting to win! pic.twitter.com/AZ9d7kBa1l
— Bella Sankey (@BellaSankey) November 23, 2019
Given Sankey previously claimed Jeremy Corbyn was “honest, has principles and integrity and is visible and accountable in the media himself”, this is clearly a relevant contextual detail for Sky’s viewers. Of course Sankey is entitled to say whatever she likes about the government, and Sky News is entitled to broadcast them. Doing so without drawing attention to her political activism is just disingenuous…
