Lancing The Boil

4/10/2013

I’ve been rather consumed with work this week so never really had much chance to read the papers. The one headline that kept jumping out at me was reference to something the Daily Mail said about Labour leader Ed Miliband’s father Ralph. It wasn’t till reading my Jewish Chronicle this morning that I was able to fully appreciate what the fuss was about. I followed this by watching a recording of Lord Levy being interviewed by Kay Burley on Sky News last night.

I’m one of those who always tread a careful line before playing the Anti-Semitism card. I’m the one who told sportsdirect.com that I don’t have a problem with chanting Yido on the Spurs pitch. But sometimes you’ve got to ask yourself “what were they thinking?” I get it that a Conservative paper wants to go after the leader of the opposition, but to go after his father? Referencing his father’s supposed “hatred of Britain whilst seeking refuge and reaping the benefits of living here,” is in itself highly insensitive and in very poor taste. But to make deliberate reference to his Jewish origins and refugee status unquestionably wades into Anti-Semitic waters.

To be sure, this doesn’t mean the Daily Mail is Anti-Semitic. But it certainly suggests gross naïveté at best; not grasping the implications and consequences of writing such an article with categorical Anti-Semitic undertones. In his interview Lord Levy brilliantly navigated the hard questions thrown at him, never once accusing the paper of Anti-Semitism, but certainly implying that the comments per se could well be interpreted as Anti-Semitic.

It was several years ago when Lord Levy was undergoing his own media mauling. At the time, the Daily Mail, as one example, made deliberate reference to his middle name – Abraham – even as everyone knew him as Michael – and referred as well to his “mansion in North West London.” I flagged that at the time, on Channel 4 news with John Snow, and later on Newsnight with Jeremy Paxman. Lord Sugar picked up on it the following day as well and a subsequent article was written in the Jewish Chronicle entitled “Schochet and Sugar Lance the Boil.” The article went on to say that “whether or not one thinks that the “friends of Levy” campaign was sensible, there is no doubt that it has had an impact. As a result, editors are likely to be far more scrupulous in their reporting, keeping the Jewish references to a minimum,” and concludes with, “It is my impression that…Schochet and Sugar have lanced the Anti-Semitic boil. That must be a good thing.”

This prompted a phone call Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, who told me he wanted to better understand the sensitivities involved. He was most gracious and seemed to really want to ensure that his paper could be more conscientious going forward. It looks though that my little lesson didn’t last long.

One Jew, who has come to the defence of the Mail, is City editor and personal friend, Alex Brummer. He told BBC Radio 4 the paper was owed an apology over claims that its Ralph Miliband articles were motivated by Anti-Semitism. He hit out at suggestions the Jewish Chronicle, Labour figures and others that there may have been “a whiff of Anti-Semitism” about the coverage. “I think there are people out there who need to apologise to us because there have been vicious accusations in the last couple of days…that somehow this was an Anti-Semitic attack,” he said.

This is strange - because it was Alex Brummer who wrote the aforementioned Jewish Chronicle article about “lancing the boil.” It was him as well who organised that phone call between me and his editor. Is that politics? Or have years at the Mail rubbed off on him.

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