Among the many things we've learned from former Daily Star journalist Richard Peppiatt is that the paper's apparent support for the political aspirations of far right hate mob the English Defence League (EDL) may well have been based on a wilfully fabricated story.
Peppiatt wrote:
"...this incendiary tale was twisted and bent to fit an agenda seemingly decided before the EDL's leader Tommy Robinson had even been interviewed... Asked if his group were to become a political party I was told the ex-BNP goon had replied: "Not for now". But further up the newsprint chain it appears a story, too good to allow the mere spectre of reality to restrain, was spotted."
So all the more interesting then that the Independent on Sunday today reports that the EDL has now apparently decided it might not be such a bad idea if it made a move into the political mainstream and goes so far as to credit this decision to the Daily Star's encouragement:
"The Independent on Sunday understands one reporter, from a different news organisation, who recently interviewed Mr Robinson, claims that the EDL had the idea to become a political party after seeing the Star's fabricated article."
It should be stressed the Indie doesn't name its source. In fact much that has been said and written around this particular story is single-sourced and uncorroborated - so all such inter-publication fingerpointing should be taken with a pinch of salt.
However, it doesn't require a huge leap to imagine that a controversial race-hate group may be tempted out of the shadows if they believe a national newspaper, with more than 700,000 readers, is on their side. And when the Star boasts that "98% of readers agreed with the EDL's policies" and champions claims that Robinson would be "a surefire hit" on Question Time (their words, not his), it's easy to see where the EDL would get that impression.
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