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07th Jun 2017

Joey Barton hits out at ‘right wing newspaper attacks’ on Jeremy Corbyn

Gary Lineker also took a pop at the Daily Mail

Robert Redmond

Joey Barton won’t be voting for the Tories on Thursday.

He probably won’t be invited to write a column for any ‘right wing newspapers’ either. Barton has hit out at the coverage of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party by some newspapers on Wednesday, the day before Britain votes in the general election.

The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express were among the newspapers to take an aggressive stance on Corbyn.

The Daily Mail labelled Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott as “Apologists for Terror” and accused Labour of “befriending Britain’s enemies.”

The newspaper didn’t stop with that aggressive front page, and dedicated a significant proportion of Wednesday’s edition to attacking the Labour Party.

The Sun and the Express took equally hardline stances, urging their voters not to vote for Labour.

The Conservative Party are expected to maintain their majority in the House of Commons following Thursday’s vote, but the Labour Party’s election campaign has gone a lot better than previously expected.

The polls have narrowed and the landslide Tory election, which previously seemed inevitable, is in doubt.

Such an attack, by some elements of the media, won’t come as a surprise. However, despite being utterly predictable, it still hasn’t gone down well.

Barton was one of those who found the coverage distasteful.

The former Manchester City, Newcastle United and Burnley midfielder hit out at “some right wing papers”, saying they are “feasting on the current public concern and safety fears.”

Barton said the newspapers have behaved in a “despicable” manner and accused them of personally attacking Corbyn, rather than his policies.

Here’s the series of Tweets Barton sent on Wednesday afternoon:

Gary Lineker also took a pop at the Dail Mail.