Why has the Mail on Sunday got it in for poor, defenceless Denis MacShane, who receives an almost weekly poke in the ribs over his expenses? The Rotherham MP insists that they are only “about average in claiming all that could be claimed”. Leaving that defence aside, could the Mail’s campaign have anything to do with Denis’ trenchant attacks – carried in Tribune and elsewhere – on the xenophobia of Lord Rothermere’s editors? He has highlighted the report by the UK Federation of Poles which listed 80 anti-Polish headlines published by the Mail. The BNP and UKIP’s anti-foreign worker campaign drew heavily on this coverage. Recently Mr MacShane addressed the Board of Deputies of Jews and drew attention to the Mail on Sunday headline describing Jewish John Bercow as “oily” – a common slur used against the Jews in the 1930s when the Daily Mail was busy trying to find ways of supporting Hitler.
The following Sunday, Mr MacShane was again the target of an MoS attack. Come on Denis, it’s a free press. Isn’t it?
