It’s becoming a familiar pattern. Whenever Labour politicians are faced with uncomfortable facts, they don’t debate them, they dismiss them. “Propaganda!” they cry, as though shouting the word magically makes the facts disappear.
Today, I had that experience first-hand from none other than Redditch Council’s Labour leader, Councillor Sharon Harvey. After I published a perfectly factual report about the Government’s possible shake-up of council tax, a story covered by The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Financial Times, and even by the Tax Policy Associates, she jumped straight into the comments to declare it “More Conservative Post propaganda.”
Propaganda? Really? Reporting on a trending national story covered by half the media spectrum is now “propaganda”? It seems that when Labour doesn’t like the message, it shoots the messenger.
This isn’t the first time this council leader has taken issue with factual reporting. Readers might remember our previous exchange, when she suggested that local residents raising national flags, in a community initiative widely supported by veterans and families, were somehow linked to “far-right” movements. She made those remarks not as a private citizen, but in her official capacity as council leader.
That’s the thing about much of the Labour’s reflex: see something patriotic, call it “extremist.” Read a story that exposes one of their terrible policies, call it “propaganda.” It’s a sort of political auto-correct, one that always changes “truth” to “triggered.”
Now, I understand that politics can be tribal, and I make no secret of championing common-sense, small-c conservatism. But when public officials try to discredit journalists for doing their job or smear ordinary residents for showing pride in their community, we face a problem far bigger than party loyalty.
As a journalist, I have a duty to be fair. If Keir Starmer or a politician of any party does something good, I’ll be the first to write about it. Facts are facts, and I report them as they come. Yet we’re now living in a culture of denial, one where even public officials dismiss uncomfortable truths as “propaganda,” treat free speech as optional, and shout down accountability instead of upholding it.
And it seems in my case, many Labour supporters do love a pile-on… they simply can’t help themselves. One council leader throws out a trigger word, and suddenly they’re out in force, shouting “fake news!” at anything that challenges their comfort zone. But it isn’t fake news… it’s just inconvenient truth and the rest of us are growing weary of being told that patriotism is dangerous and that factual reporting is propaganda, simply because it exposes them.
So here’s my message to Councillor Harvey, and to any other Labour figure who thinks something I publish is factually wrong: there’s a simple solution. Point it out, and if you’re right, I’ll correct it. That’s how honest journalism works.
But let’s be clear, in five years of running the Conservative Post, I’ve never once had to issue a correction of a fact. Not once. Because facts are facts and I check my sources, whether or not they flatter your politics.
If those facts make you uncomfortable, that’s not “propaganda.” That’s journalism. Deal with it.
Claire Bullivant
