Brief note: Leaks to the press a corrosive effect on politics

When it comes to the timing of leaks to the press I immediately think, internal politics. Coming as it has in the immediate aftermath of the local government election results, the email leak that provoked the Durham police to re-open the Investigation into Starmer and now the timing of this to keep the story alive, seems to me to be an indication of some serious shift within the Starmer camp. 

It’s also becoming a more marked feature of British politics. The way in which Corbyn was the victim of it, then Johnson, then Sunak, and now Starmer reveals an unhealthy trend. Aside from the fact that it represents a more direct flexing of the power of the press to act as, if not kingmaker, then king destroyer, it also trivialises politics by reducing it all to issues of virtue, indignation and scandal in the eyes of the public. But more significantly, the practice is increasingly becoming the main means by which internal issues within both parties are resolved or, at least become a significant part of an attempt at a resolution.

Eamon Dyas 9/5/22