Elon Musk is doing a great job winding up Britain’s hard left by maintaining freedom of speech on X, formerly Twitter. It hasn’t escaped the notice of some of the platform’s pub bores…

Here’s tin-foil hat merchant and Byline Media supremo Peter Jukes comparing the platform to Nazi occupied Paris. Twitter is as bad as Nazi occupied Paris, of course it is Peter…

I think of Musk’s horrific version of Twitter a bit like Paris under Nazi occupation. Are you going to give up the city and community you were part of? Some of course suck up and collaborate. Others understandably flee. But some stay, and wait and work for liberation

— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) August 6, 2024

Times Radio‘s Calum Macdonald lamented that the un-policed “town square is burning“. He may be community noted for this one…

Trust the metropolitan elitist Lewis Goodall to have a stab at the platform. Not like he’s got it wrong before…

“If Musk created X now, the way it is, would we in the media use it? No! we wouldn’t touch it a barge pole.”

Are unmediated platforms like X beyond redemption – and should we stop using it?@lewis_goodall | @jonsopel pic.twitter.com/LJZQa97TPl

— The News Agents (@TheNewsAgents) August 6, 2024

Meanwhile leftie lawyer Jessica Simor, supposedly a human rights advocate, is urging Keir Starmer to literally ban Twitter in the UK with a ‘one line bill’ in Parliament:

Pass a short Bill closing Twitter down in the U.K. @Keir_Starmer? There is more than enough reason to do so. One of the richest men in the world is using his platform to cause serious harm – putting lives & communities at risk. @YvetteCooperMP @lisanandy

— Jessica Simor KC (@JMPSimor) August 6, 2024

She has repeatedly advocated for the site to be closed down, which would bring the UK into line with authoritarian states which block the site like China, Iran and North Korea. Would the one line bill be 140 characters or less?

Yesterday was a tough today for the hardline centrist hacks who rushed to Huw Edwards’ defence after allegations he paid a child for indecent images surfaced. As the Metropolitan Police confirmed BBC presenter Huw Edwards was charged with three accounts of making explicit photos, the lefty pundits look rather silly for slamming The Sun for surfacing the scandal and running to Huw’s defence. Guido has browsed through the archives of these supposed ‘hommes serieux’ who will be more than a little red-faced…

The questions for The Sun just got bigger still.

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) July 12, 2023

Former Editor of The Sun, David Yelland rushed to attack the paper, posting this a few hours after Huw’s wife named him as the presenter embroiled in scandal:

I wish @thehuwedwards well. The Sun inflicted terror on Huw despite no evidence of any criminal offence. This is no longer a BBC crisis, it is a crisis for the paper. Huw’s privacy must now be respected. Social media also needs speedy reform.

— David Yelland (@davidyelland) July 12, 2023

Emily Maitlis also blasted the “distasteful” BBC coverage of further allegations coming to light, questioning on The News Agents whether journalism had gone “too far” while “this poor man was in hospital, and that was absolutely appalling, and yet obviously there will be journalists here saying “but that doesn’t stop us doing our work”. Let’s not forget that the child’s mother initially approached the BBC to report the disturbing situation and she was met with silence…

Meanwhile, Jon Sopel was quick to wish Huw well:

This is an awful and shocking episode, where there was no criminality, but perhaps a complicated private life. That doesn’t feel very private now. I hope that will give some cause to reflect. They really need to. I wish ⁦@thehuwedwards⁩ well. pic.twitter.com/H3rN3bhE1U

— Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) July 12, 2023

Last but not least, Corbynite luvvie Owen Jones posted a moving defence that hasn’t aged well:

The Sun is a disgusting rag and they have to pay for what they’ve done to Huw Edwards.

They tried to destroy someone’s life with false claims of illegality involving a minor.

We know now there was no criminality, and The Sun have driven a vulnerable man into medical care.

— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) July 12, 2023

They’re not leaping to his aid anymore…

Steve Reed last night spoke out on Labour’s discredited attack ad – claiming Rishi Sunak does not want to lock up convicted paedophiles – on the News Agents podcast. He confirmed that he and his team provided the figures used and saw it before it went out, though the actual ad was created by Labour’s central office. He also said that Sir Keir was aware it was going out. When probed on the merits of the campaign, Steve said:

“I think it’s wholly legitimate. I think it’s part of politics to hold leaders to account for what they’ve done. The leader of the Conservative Party is accountable for the behaviour of the Conservative government that’s been in power for 13 years. I think it’s important that we explain to voters – to the public – what the government is doing wrong”.

Guido isn’t so sure he would consider blaming a person who was, at the time, working in a California hedge fund, over someone responsible for the sentencing decisions in question is “wholly legitimate”…

Lewis Goodall then asked if former Director of Public Prosecutions Starmer was more responsible for the justice system than Sunak – Steve insisted Rishi was. Leftie Lewis’s bemusement says it all.

Steve’s defence of his ads comes as today’s papers report on Labour’s internal delight at their descent into “gutter politics” – to quote Lord Blunkett. The i runs with a Labour source praising the impact of the ads, whilst The Times quotes a senior Labour source calling the campaign a “triumph” as “we’ve spent a week not talking about boats, not talking about trans”. Just don’t ask Yvette…

As Gary Lineker’s off-side remark about the government’s immigration agenda brings BBC bias back into focus, the hosts of the News Agents podcast have had their say. Because who better to speak on impartiality than someone who was repeatedly found to have breached the rules.

Jon Sopel first chimed in that when he was abroad in America covering Trump “I was given huge amounts of latitude to call it as I saw it” – and BBC bosses backed him for it. No surprises there.

Lewis Goodall then shared his views, first claiming the Tories have succeeded in making sure “impartiality only goes in one direction”. He then spoke about Robbie Gibb, saying he made his life “very difficult”. Lewis complains that people would warn him that “Robbie’s watching you” because they “created this confection that somehow I was Labour supporting”. In the very next sentence, Lewis then admitted he was Labour-leaning.

Of course, Robbie would have been more than justified to keep an eye on Lewis. Whilst at Newsnight, he penned an anti-government front-page piece for the New Statesman – a flagrant breach of the BBC’s guidelines. He was considered a hostile opponent by Boris’ operation. At Sky, he was able to publish a long anti-Boris article and he used to work for the lefty think tank IPPR. Lewis was forever going over the top on Twitter and having to delete tweets when he remembered he was supposed to be impartial. Yet somehow it was the BBC that “created this confection”. Considering Lewis’ background, being indirectly told to take care with the editorial direction of his content hardly seems like the “crazy” approach to impartiality he was keen to describe.

LBC‘s Lewis Goodall has got his hands on a letter from DCMS secretary Michelle Donelan to the PM confirming that her recommendation is against privatising Channel 4 – directly contravening the plan of Nadine Dorries and the previous government. The letter states that after reviewing the business case:

“I have concluded that pursuing a sale at this point is not the right decision and there are better ways to secure C4C’s sustainability and that of the UK independent production sector.”

Responding to the leaked letter, a DCMS spokesperson tells Guido “We do not comment on speculation. The DCMS Secretary of State has been clear that we are looking again at the business case for the sale of Channel Four. We will announce more on our plans in due course.” All eyes on Nadine’s Twitter account…

Read the leaked letter from Goodall in full here.

UPDATE: As expected, Nadine Dorries’ response pulls no punches:

A policy at some time in the future to teach maths for longer with teachers we don’t yet even have to do so.
Where is the mandate- who voted for this?

Will now be almost impossible to face the electorate at a GE and expect voters to believe or trust our manifesto commitments.

— Rt Hon Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) January 4, 2023

Guido can reveal the BBC’s had another top broadcast face poached by Global. Newsnight’s resident lefty, Lewis Goodall, has been scooped up by the radio station as their new “Analysis & Investigations Editor”:

“Lewis will be joining Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel as the third host on Global’s major new podcast, which will launch this autumn. In addition to presenting the podcast, Lewis will also take on the role of Analysis & Investigations Editor, working alongside Antony Garvey’s team”.

Guido’s mole jokes, “this is just what LBC was crying out for, another leftist ex-BBC type to come in and steer the ship.’ Following in the wake of Maitlis, Sopel and Marr, Broadcasting House seems to have the air of rats leaving a sinking ship at the moment…