Rewriting spin

I don’t normally bother with programmes which bring politicians together to argue with each other. It may be entertainment seeing two people who must have opposing views try and avoid answering the questions asked of them but it panders to the polarised nature of politics that this country has fallen in to.

Occasionally though I come across such a programme and catch some of what is being said before I turn over. So it was when I turned on Channel 4 news which turned out to be a debate style show on the fallout from Windrush. Before they got into that though the presenter interviewed a Conservative and a Labour politician about the recent Airbus and BMW announcements over Brexit.

Now this blog is not about Brexit, my views are clear about that, but rather the way that people and especially politicians rewrite history to achieve their own version of the truth. Remember there is no such thing as the truth, only perception and probability.

The Conservative politician, unsurprisingly, dismissed the two companies concerns as political machinations and went on to say that Britain will become a global trading power ‘Which is what we all voted for.’ It is this to which I took exception.

I remember voting in the referendum and the question was a straight yes or no as to membership of the European Union. There was no question of global or European trading. To suggest, or rather state, that this is what everyone had voted on is a clear attempt to rewrite an historical event.

I don’t know what others voted for. I voted on being part of a wider European movement and I suspect some voted for greater perceived independence or sovereignty, some will have voted for more economic power, some will have voted out of some sense of patriotism while some no doubt will have voted over immigration issues. The media was certainly filled with immigration stories right up until the day of the vote.

To say we all voted for one issue, when only 52% voted to leave anyway, is a gross oversimplification and the presenter should have picked him up on that.

Whatever happens over Brexit, so it will be, but we should be very concerned about the way that politics and the media are twisting what has happened to meet their own ends and are allowed to get away with it.