Damian Green compares Evening Standard to Russia Today in swipe at George Osborne
2 min read
Damian Green has lashed out at George Osborne, comparing the former Chancellor's Evening Standard newspaper to Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT.
Mr Green, who is Theresa May’s de facto deputy, made the remarks whilst at a Press Gallery lunch.
Suggesting that the London newspaper was unfairly biased against the Prime Minister he joked: “The Evening Standard… Russia Today with less George Galloway.”
The Evening Standard has taken a critical line on Theresa May since her former Cabinet colleague took over the reins as political editor in May, after being sacked from her frontbench.
It was also rumoured that the former Chancellor had joked that he would not rest until she was “chopped up in bags” in his freezer.
Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Green, who is an old university friend of Mrs May, hit out at "unscrupulous blogs and websites" - The Canary, Breitbart and Swawkbox - for lowering the standard of political debate.
He called on the media and parliamentarians to watch their tone, saying “there is no doubt that the language of political discourse and the descriptions which political opponents use against each other has become markedly worse in my time in the House.”
He was especially concerned he said, with the “sad and completely ridiculous rise in comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis.”
“Even when we are in the Chamber giving each other what for, we need to remember that we are democratic politicians… it is pernicious to attempt to portray your political opponents as somehow not quite human,” he said.
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