Last week a ‘newspaper’ arrived through my door. The mast stated RYE NEWS. At first I thought this was a new paper for Ryers.
The contents were in essence a hooray for the Conservative government. However, looking at the back page and at the very bottom in regrettably small print was the provenance of the publication, namely the Conservative Party.
My researches showed that the Electoral Commission have received numerous complaints from the public about political propaganda designed to look like local newspapers.
Apparently the Commission has no legal power to remedy these misleading papers. All that is required is is the small print at the bottom of the last page.
Readers beware!
Editors note. If you have received a copy of the new ‘Rye News’ please forward it to editor@ryenews.org.uk
Setting aside the dubious ethics of all this, for a two centuries old British political institution to be reduced to furtively disseminating Tory samizdat in its own constituency, things have clearly gone seriously awry…
I would assume quite a few big and small ‘C’ conservative folk find this rather a dispiriting state of affairs for the party of Wellington, Peel and Disraeli… At least Churchill knew when his era had passed. In 1945 he admitted, “I have no message for them…” Perhaps it’s time for the Government to concede the same now? Though, perhaps it’s also unrealistic to expect the custodians of today’s party to live up to the icons of the past…