The Guardian has published a damning editorial on Jeremy Corbyn, saying that with under a month until the General Election “there is no platform Labour could adopt” to see the party win.
A leader column published on Wednesday accused Corbyn of providing a “painful” contrast to Theresa May and took direct aim at his election campaign launch the previous day.
“For many voters, Theresa May is established both as a credible leader, and a credible figure of the centre-right. That gives her great scope to launch raids on the centre ground, as she did today with a plan to cap energy prices, which she can claim as evidence of her desire to lead a united country.”
Of the Labour leader it said:
“Corbyn... seemed not even to have persuaded party supporters who had gathered in Manchester for the official campaign launch that he is a convincing prime-minister-in-waiting.”
The editorial added that Corbyn’s address “did not sound like the sort of speech” needed to persuade those “reluctantly deserting after a lifetime of support”.
“Yet in the end, history has an ineradicable lesson: general elections are not won just on manifestos or pledge cards, but also on the believability of the person who is the party candidate for prime minister.
“Barely a month from polling day, it seems there is no platform Labour could adopt that would address the doubt in many voters’ minds about Mr Corbyn’s credibility as a potential prime minister.”
Justin Schlosberg, Chair of the Media Reform Coalition, which has released studies claiming British news media is “persistently” biased against Corbyn, told HuffPost UK:
“This editorial is sadly symptomatic of the Guardian’s own loss of credibility.”
- Media Reform Coalition
“The Conservatives have based their campaign so far on little more than glib sound bites repeated ad nauseam whilst the only policies they actually want to talk about are ones they have stolen from Labour.
“Theresa May has already lost the argument and has refused to debate with Jeremy Corbyn.
“Rather than call her out on this, or question why she is perceived as such a ‘credible’ leader, the Guardian continues to buy into a dominant press narrative that is so ingratiating of an incumbent leader as to be the envy of dictators around the world.”
Schlosberg’s criticism was echoed by some on social media too.
HuffPost UK contacted Corbyn’s office for comment but is yet to receive one.