Mandelson blasts Sun’s ‘bad taste’
Lord Mandelson deepened the row over a British soldier killed in Afghanistan today with an attack on the Sun's "bad taste and crude politicking".
The Business Secretary seized on the newspaper's coverage of the case of Guardsman Jamie Janes as proof of an attempt by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch to influence the general election.
Lord Mandelson lambasted the Sun as the uncle of the dead soldier defended Gordon Brown and a military backlash continued over "political exploitation" of his mother's grief.
The peer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If you look at emails received overwhelmingly, by the BBC, Sky News and the Sun itself, from the public, they've clearly made up their own minds about the Sun's mixture of bad taste and crude politicking. They have seen through it and don't like it."
Lord Mandelson said the newspaper was treating the Government as if it was the real "enemy" of the troops, rather than the Taliban. He said that Mr Murdoch's News Corporation was trying to use its extensive reach to get the Conservatives into power.
"I think a wider question is that when the Sun creates the news in this way, this is then followed up by SkyNews and then puts pressure on the BBC to follow suit. I think this has wider implications for the election."
Army veteran Ian Cox said he was outraged that the newspaper had "used" his sister Jacqui Janes's grief over the loss of her son in Afghanistan to attack the Prime Minister. As Mr Brown marked Armistice Day at Westminster Abbey, a string of former Army figures paid tribute to the premier's sincerity for writing a letter of condolence to families of the fallen.
British soldiers in Helmand today held a two-minute silence for all troops killed since the First World War. At 11am local time, the 11 Light Brigade bowed their heads at the operational headquarters in Lashkar Gah. At Camp Bastion a 105mm light gun marked the start of the silence.
Mrs Janes moved to draw a line under the row last night by publicly accepting Mr Brown's apology for mistakes in a letter he had written.
The Conservative-supporting Sun insisted it had "no regrets" over the decision to release a taped conversation between Mr Brown and Mrs Janes.
