Spin doctors at the heart of the Westminster establishment have been drafted in to stage a memorial event for Jo Cox, due to be broadcast from Trafalgar Square tomorrow on what would have been her 42nd birthday.
The event is one of a number of commemorative events being staged around the world as announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in the Commons yesterday; the other events will be taking place in New York City, Washington DC, Batley, Brussels, Geneva, Nairobi and Beirut.
Broadcast coverage of the event is set to be organised by corporate PR agency Freuds, blogger Guido Fawkes has reported, while the press operation will be run by Portland Communications.
Both organisations are establishment outfits: Tony Blair’s former spin-doctor Alistair Campbell sits on Portland’s “strategic council”, while Freuds was founded in 1985 by Matthew Freud, son of Sir Clement Freud and sister to television interviewer Emma Freud.
The freedom Britain needs is freedom from a nasty Brexit Lie Machine run by tax dodgers and multi-millionaire liars fuelling anger and hate
— Alastair PEOPLE’S VOTE Campbell (@campbellclaret) June 18, 2016
Freuds lists “disruption” among its core values, explaining: “In an accelerating world, we know that relevance requires constant evolution, and cutting through often demands a disruptive approach.”
And it aims to deliver this and other values by “delivering game changing ideas” through “[building] powerful partnerships”.
The events will lend credence to suggestions that Remain campaigners are making political capital out of Ms. Cox’s death.
“Since the murder of Jo Cox, there has been a dramatic shift in Remain’s fortunes. Where before they were trailing in the polls, now they have pulled ahead,” Breitbart London’s James Delingpole wrote this morning.
“Yes, there’s a story doing the rounds that this is because the public are becoming increasingly concerned about economic issues and that these favour Remain. But I suspect that this is just Remain spin to cover their own embarrassment at the unseemly way they’ve been using Jo Cox’s death to their advantage.”
He quotes right-wing personality Katie Hopkins who anticipated that events would be concocted to keep Ms. Cox in the media agenda in the last days before the vote on British membership of the European Union (EU).
“As we move into the final few days of the campaign, the ugly ambition of Remain will be to keep the Jo Cox story alive — at least in print — until June 23,” Hopkins wrote in the Mail on Sunday, predating the announcement of the commemoration events by 24 hours.
In fact the scale of the establishment’s ambition is much larger than a mere print story; a broadcast event offers ample scope for emotional scenes of heartbreak and grief.
As Hopkins concluded: “There is no end to the stunts set up to ensure this story has legs and keeps running — when most of us just want the family left in peace to grieve and find some sleep.”
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