<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%;background:#EFEFEF;border:none;border-bottom:solid #DDDDDD 1.0pt'><tr><td style='border:none;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'></td><td style='border:none;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='text-align:left'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%;background:white'><tr><td style='padding:15.0pt 15.0pt 15.0pt 15.0pt'><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%'><tr><td nowrap valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'></td><td style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='text-align:left'><b><span style='font-size:15.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#555555'><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/12/16/hot-mic-moment-exposes-insane-sleaziness-of-british-politicalmedia-class/"><span style='color:#2585B2'>Hot Mic Moment Exposes Insane Sleaziness Of British Political/Media Class</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='text-align:left'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#888888'>by <a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?author=2"><span style='color:#2585B2'>Caitlin Johnstone</span></a> </span><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>There’s a wildly under-appreciated clip of news footage from Thursday’s general election in the UK that, now that everyone’s had some time to emotionally process the emotional fallout from that depressing night, needs more attention.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>Labour MP and chronic left-puncher Jess Phillips <a href="https://youtu.be/KEcu4Hha5Us" target="_blank"><span style='color:#2585B2'>appeared on Channel 4</span></a> to talk about how devastated she was about the news of exit polls showing her party’s crushing defeat, except the cameras switched on before she was prepared and caught her in the middle of a joyful chuckle. It took several seconds and the overt reminders from the show’s hosts to put on a “straight face” and act emotional before she could conceal her cheery mood as Corbyn’s Labour leadership was trampled underfoot by odious empire lackey Boris Johnson.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>“Good evening Jess,” said the program’s host Krishnan Guru-Murthy. “How are you feeling as these results unfold?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>Watching the stumbling improvisation that came next feels like walking into a room full of awkward silence when your supposed friends had just been saying mean things about you, or seeing your spouse conspicuously jump away from an attractive coworker when you drop by the office.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>Phillips, still unaware that the cameras were now rolling, did not interrupt the delighted guffaw she’d been enjoying.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>“Can you hear me Jess Phillips?” the host asked over nervous tittering from the audience. “It’s Krishnan.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>“I can hear you, sorry,” Phillips said after a moment, literally putting her hand over her mouth for a few seconds to hide her giant shit-eating grin.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>“Straight face,” said Guru-Murthy, who then apparently realized that this was a bizarre thing to say and added “Actually you don’t have to have a straight face, umm, on this show. Umm… what are you thinking?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>“Oh are you talking to me now? Sorry that wasn’t clear,” said Phillips after a pause, her face now finally somewhat straightened out. “Sorry, I’m really tired. What I’m thinking is… it’s, it’s just totally devastating isn’t it? It’s totally devastating that all the people that I see every day, they’re gonna have nowhere to turn. I mean, I should probably do that thing where we all pretend that we’re gonna wait and see if the results are better than we thought, but it feels like a kick in the stomach.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>Jess Phillips had not been acting like a woman who felt devastated, and she had certainly not been acting like a woman who felt like she’d been kicked in the stomach. Jess Phillips had been acting like a woman on her third strawberry daiquiri down at the pub with a couple of hilarious mates.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>“I’m just waiting actually, I mean, for your thoughts,” Guru-Murthy said after an awkward pause. “I mean, you look emotional, and upset, and that’s understandable.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>Guru-Murthy was lying. At no time did Phillips look either emotional or upset.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>“Jess it’s just that you look very emotional, and we know you, we know you’re a normal, sane person, so it’s very confusing,” host Katherine Ryan bullshitted when Phillips struggled to hear what Guru-Murthy had said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>“I am very emotional,” Phillips lied. “But not just for me or for the Labour Party. I’m emotional for the people that the Labour Party was invented to help.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>The audience, probably relieved to have a taste of something that isn’t intensely awkward and disturbing, erupted in applause.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><i><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>"Enter Jess Phillips. She backs Trident, austerity and Israel. She hates Corbyn, Williamson and Leftists in general. She doesn’t believe in class politics or ideology, but she does talk about gender all the time, and says 'fuck' a lot..." <a href="https://t.co/oSj7kNytVm"><span style='color:#2585B2'>https://t.co/oSj7kNytVm</span></a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/OffGuardian0?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span style='color:#2585B2'>@offguardian0</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><i><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>— Frank Owen's Legendary Paintbrush (@WarmongerHodges) <a href="https://twitter.com/WarmongerHodges/status/1107052435363762176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span style='color:#2585B2'>March 16, 2019</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>For months the imperial media have been loudly anointing Phillips as the establishment choice to replace the unabashedly socialism-minded Corbyn, as Kit Knightly <a href="https://off-guardian.org/2019/03/15/jess-phillips-emerges-as-establishment-pick-to-replace-corbyn/" target="_blank"><span style='color:#2585B2'>described for <i>Off-Guardian</i></span></a> back in March. This coronation-by-media continues today with outlets ranging from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/14/woman-likely-to-lead-labour-jostling-to-succeed-jeremy-corbyn-begins" target="_blank"><i><span style='color:#2585B2'>The Guardian</span></i></a> to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7793381/Moderate-Labour-MPs-throw-weight-Jeremy-Corbyn-critic-Jess-Phillips.html" target="_blank"><i><span style='color:#2585B2'>Daily Mail</span></i></a> to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/12/15/labour-leadership-race-runners-riders-replace-jeremy-corbyn/" target="_blank"><i><span style='color:#2585B2'>Telegraph</span></i></a> placing her on the short list to assume leadership of the Labour Party over the last couple of days.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>After an anti-imperialist, pro-Palestinian socialist was magically thrown into role of Opposition leader <a href="https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2019-07-03/plot-corbyn-out-power/" target="_blank"><span style='color:#2585B2'>by an extraordinary accident</span></a> in 2015, Phillips leapt into her role as outspoken Corbyn critic by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/14/labour-mp-jess-phillips-knife-corbyn-vote-loser-general-election" target="_blank"><span style='color:#2585B2'>publicly telling him</span></a> “I won’t knife you in the back, I’ll knife you in the front.” Despite this vow, Phillips proceeded to steadfastly knife Corbyn in the back by fanning the flames of incredibly disingenuous smears against his leadership, elevating the imaginary Labour antisemitism crisis to such a cartoonish extent that earlier this year <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2019/02/22/watch-jess-phillips-mp-make-the-most-ludicrous-accusation-of-antisemitism-to-date/" target="_blank"><span style='color:#2585B2'>she proclaimed</span></a> that a tweet saying “Palestine Lives” from Young Labour “is antisemitic and it has to stop.” This malicious termiting continued into the final days before the general election, with <a href="http://archive.is/x5BrW#selection-1735.0-1735.212" target="_blank"><span style='color:#2585B2'>Phillips criticizing Corbyn</span></a> for not responding adequately to claims about antisemitism in the Labour Party by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>Phillips’ hot mic moment, and the mad scramble of the show’s perception-managing pundits to clean it up, provides us with a brief glimpse behind the phony persona that the empire’s political/media class put on for us. Should Bernie Sanders by some Corbyn-like miracle overcome the rigged primaries and receive the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, we may be absolutely certain we’ll see a campaign to sabotage his run and force a loss to Trump in the US elections next year. And we may be absolutely certain they’ll cackle about it just as Jess Phillips did when she thought the cameras were off.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='text-align:left'><span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>These people aren’t like you and me. They don’t care about truth, and they don’t care about human beings. They rose to the positions they occupy within media and politics by consistently demonstrating that they’ll do whatever it takes to advance the interests of the oligarchic empire while giving the people the bare minimum possible to prevent an insurrection. They’re where they’re at precisely <i>because</i> they don’t care about truth or people. They care about their own dominance within our sick dominator culture, and when they achieve it, they smile, and they celebrate, and they laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=left style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:left;line-height:16.8pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#444444'>Sometimes the guardians of empire make little mistakes. Sometimes they accidentally allow an anti-imperialist to lead one of their major parties. Sometimes they accidentally get caught in mid-guffaw when they’re meant to be pretending to be heartbroken. Whenever those holes appear it’s important to pay attention to them, and to shove as many rays of light through them as possible before they are closed.<o:p></o:p></span></p></td></tr></table></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>