More Media Garbage: Daily Star Smears Andrew Brons MEP
Another day, another smear! This time it is the turn of The Daily Star, a newspaper that has an almost religious commitment to telling lies. The BNP’s Media Rebuttal Unit has lodged the following complaint with the Press Complaints Commission:
In an article published on 17 December 2009 headlined “BNP IN TALIBAN OUTRAGE,” The Daily Star stated the following: “Andrew Brons, their North-West MEP, said they [the Taliban] should not be put on a banned list that includes Osama Bin Laden and al Qaida.”
Our MEP, Andrew Brons, said nothing of the sort. The Daily Star’s claim is inaccurate and misleading.
The article in question tried to create the impression that Mr Brons supported the Taliban and that the Taliban should not be placed on a banned list that includes Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida.
Far from supporting the Taliban, Mr Brons described them as “an appalling, repressive and anti-democratic organisation.” Mr Brons also said that they would not be killing our troops if they were not deployed in Afghanistan and that the Taliban had, as far as he was aware, no ambitions beyond the Afghan borders.
To quote Mr Brons directly: “The Taliban oppresses women, has contempt for democracy and is killing British soldiers. It is a thoroughly unpleasant organisation.”
Mr Brons did not suggest that the Taliban should not be placed on the banned list that includes Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida. He merely suggested that it should not be placed in the same category on that particular list. The difference between Al Qaida and the Taliban is that the former commits terrorist acts worldwide, whilst the Taliban commits them only in Afghanistan. If we discontinued the war in Afghanistan, we would have nothing to fear from them.
We demand that The Daily Star retract this story and print a correction in the same prominent fashion in which they have printed the article in question.
Cllr Paul Golding
BNP Media Rebuttal Unit
