LBC listeners blown away by James O'Brien's explosive Beergate reaction
8 July 2022, 13:22
James O'Brien's explosive reaction to Keir Starmer being cleared of Beergate
LBC listeners are blown away by James O'Brien's instant reaction to the news that Sir Keir Starmer has been cleared of any rulebreaking in the Beergate saga.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Durham Constabulary announced on Friday that they will not be issuing fixed penalty notices to Sir Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner or any of their teams for their part in the Beergate saga.
The Labour leader and deputy leader were under investigation for possible coronavirus rule-breaking at a party event in Durham in April 2021.
"There was no earthly way that [Keir Starmer] was going to make that pledge to resign" if he didn't know he didn't break any rules, James O'Brien began.
Read more: Keir Starmer cleared of breaching lockdown rules after Beergate probe
Read more: What has Sir Keir Starmer done? Inside Beergate claims
In one of his most explosive monologues yet, James then began a meticulous breakdown of how the right-wing press tried to bring down the Labour leader to soften the Partygate scandal engulfing Boris Johnson.
"They tried to persuade you that you didn't care about the fact they were having lots of parties in Downing Street."
"They backed themselves to sell you that lie just as they have sold you lie after lie after lie in recent years."
Keir Starmer challenged on how many people were at Beergate gathering
However, the attempts to nullify public outrage around Partygate "didn't work", and so the media needed a new angle.
Read more: James O'Brien's 'astonishing' takedown of PM's Partygate misconduct
Read more: James O'Brien: Boris Johnson 'thinks he's the real victim' of Partygate
"They just decided to gaslight you -- and not just you, they decided to gaslight the police as well."
Imagining the scenes in right-wing newsrooms, James imagined the plans to blow up Beergate went like this: "We know it doesn't matter...we know it's a non-story...but we're going to gaslight them with this as well."
"Here's what we're gonna do lads, we're going to stick it on the front page of the best selling newspaper in the country for two straight weeks."
@mrjamesob @LBC An Inspector Grimm level rant just now James! Loved it!
— Tony (@SolentSurfer) July 8, 2022
@mrjamesob explosive monologue nearly made my speaker fall off the shelf! @LBC
— Matt Haxx 🏴🇬🇧🇺🇦 (@matt_haxx) July 8, 2022
James utterly destroyed the plans for "protecting the most-corrupt prime minister we've ever had, or will ever have" with Beergate, explaining that "it's the contempt with which they hold you that gets me out of bed every day" and what motivated him to quash the Beergate saga at every turn.
"They think you're so stupid that you won't see through a desperate, despicable, pathetic attempt to portray Keir Starmer even in the same universe of corruption and lawbreaking as Boris Johnson."
"What a day for the Daily Mail!" James quipped, on a day where the paper had been found to have defamed Prince Harry.
Signing off before his Summer holiday, James concluded "to see that one fail so miserably has brought me a modicum of joy in this otherwise dismal week."
