Here is a magnificent article by Bruce Bawer about BBC fake news propagandist John Sweeney and how he was exposed by Tommy Robinson — which is likely why Tommy was just deplatformed. Sweeney wanted to interview me for his hit piece on Tommy, but I knew he was a liar already. Note, as you read this, how similar Sweeney is in his outlook and methods to his fellow hard-Left propagandist Marc Thibodeau.
“Sweeney Agonistes: Tommy Robinson Turns the Tables on the BBC,” by Bruce Bawer, PJ Media, February 26, 2019:
He’s no gentleman if you can’t trust him
And if you can’t trust him —
Then you never know what he’s going to do.
— T. S. Eliot, Sweeney Agonistes
Tommy Robinson’s courageous truth-telling about Islam has not only resulted in years of harassment by the British authorities, an endless cascade of death threats, and, last year, a thoroughly unjust prison term that might have spelled his demise, but also, of course, a pattern of coverage by the mainstream media that has been almost uniformly deceitful and poisonous. When he heard that the BBC series Panorama, which is the UK’s answer to 60 Minutes, was planning a story on him with the working title “Tommy Takedown,” and that its producers were collaborating with the vile group Hope Not Hate (HNH), which is Britain’s version of the Southern Poverty Law Center — i.e., a shady far-left smear machine masquerading as a noble monitor of bigots, fascists, and hate groups — he decided to go on the offensive.
The key to Tommy’s plan was Lucy Brown, a former employee whose job with him had ended in a shouting match. After their split, she was offered £5,000 by HNH to badmouth Tommy for a cover story, and had to contact a lawyer to prevent a major daily from falsely claiming she’d accused Tommy of sexual allegations. When Panorama reporter John Sweeney asked her to talk to him for what he promised would be a “definitive documentary” uncovering Tommy in all his “horribleness,” Brown got in touch with Tommy and agreed to wear a hidden camera when she met with Sweeney to discuss his plans.
The undercover footage of Brown’s meeting with Sweeney forms the heart of Tommy’s hour-long exposé, Panodrama, which he premiered last Saturday on a huge screen to a huge crowd in front of the BBC’s Manchester headquarters. In that footage, we see Brown meet Sweeney at a pub where, presumably in hopes of loosening her tongue, he plies her with various kinds of liquor, including champagne, gin, red wine, and brandy, for a total bar bill of £220, which he put on his BBC expense account.
Sweeney, who had promised a “definitive” takedown of Tommy, instead provided Tommy with a definitive portrait of the sleazy journalistic hack at work.
What helps make Brown’s undercover footage so riveting is the way in which Panodrama presents it. After Brown has given Tommy the video, Tommy, whom Sweeney has been nagging for weeks to do an on-camera interview, agrees to sit down with him at a site of Tommy’s choosing — a room furnished, as it happens, with a big screen. Before Sweeney can start asking questions, Tommy, who has brought his own cameraman along, sets about interrogating Sweeney. For instance, he asks Sweeney whether he’d ever tell any interviewee what to say about Tommy. No, Sweeney assures him. Tommy then directs Sweeney’s attention to the big screen, where Sweeney can be seen in Brown’s undercover video spelling out to her in some detail the three points about Tommy that he’d like her to make during their on-camera interview. If she covers those three points, Sweeney tells her, he guarantees they’ll be included in the final cut. Indeed, he pretty much writes her a script. Sweeney also asks Brown if there’s anything she doesn’t want him to ask her on-camera, and adds: “I’m not supposed to ask this.”
So it goes again and again: Tommy poses a question; Sweeney answers it with a firm no; Tommy then shows him an undercover clip that proves him a liar. Tommy pulls all this off with the skill of a master prosecutor. Watching him do so is a delicious experience. So is watching Sweeney watching Sweeney. In the undercover footage, Sweeney comes out with all kinds of things that you know he’d never say on TV. He informs Brown that the way “to piss off a Greek” is to “start speaking Turkish.” He says that since he has his dog with him, he can’t take a taxi home because “Asian cab drivers don’t like taking dogs.” (As Tommy points out to him: “You’re doing what your channel does, blaming an entire continent” when in fact it’s Islam that has a problem with dogs.) Sweeney confides that one of his heroes is former IRA terrorist Martin McGuinness. He jokes about shooting gay people and refers to someone as a “bloody woofter” — cockney rhyming slang for “poofter.”
There’s also a good deal of nasty stuff about the lower classes. “I have more in common with Tommy than most reporters,” Sweeney says. “A scumbag Irish background.” He says that it’s so rare to encounter a working-class white male in the green room of BBC’s Newsnight that it’s like running across “a cannibal from the Amazonia.” And he observes that in today’s Labour Party, it’s more common than it used to be to hear “accents like yours and mine” — i.e., middle-class establishment accents — “rather than Tommy’s.”
Then there’s the HNH angle. Tommy asks Sweeney if HNH is working with him on this documentary. Sweeney says no — whereupon Tommy shows Sweeney a screen capture of a text message in which an HNH official claims that HNH is, in fact, “steering” Panorama‘s Tommy program. Tommy asks Sweeney if he’s aware of the use of threats to pressure former colleagues of Tommy to trash-talk him. No, says Sweeney — whereupon Tommy provides testimony by two former colleagues, Caolan Robertson and George Llewelyn John, to the effect that HNH had bullied them into submitting to an interview for the Panorama program, that an HNH official had been present during their interview with Sweeney, and that that official had pressured Robertson to open up further, whereupon, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the situation, Robertson and Llewelyn John had backed out of the interview.
If the BBC is actually in bed with HNH, that’s big news — especially if HNH made threats or engaged in blackmail on behalf of the Beeb. But this is, alas, where Panodrama falters. There are references to “indecent images” sent to Robertson as part of the alleged HNH blackmail attempt, and to an purported sexual assault on Robertson by an HNH operative — all of it sensational, if true. But no hard evidence of any of this is forthcoming. In contrast to the neatly systematic presentation of the undercover footage, moreover, the material concerning Robertson and Llewelyn John is served up in a rather rushed and confusing manner. Their claim is apparently that HNH, in cahoots with labor-union leaders and national-security officials, threatened to sue them for inciting the June 19, 2017, Finsbury Park mosque attack by Darren Osborne; but this narrative doesn’t come across very clearly. Also included in Panodrama is a brief conversation between Tommy and a young man named Tom Dupre, who says that after he posted critical comments online about Islam and immigration, HNH went after him aggressively until it succeeded in getting him fired from his bank job. But Dupre doesn’t provide definitive documentation of his charge, either.
Not that I would put anything past HNH. They’re a loathsome group. These are the people who, around the time that Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik went on trial, issued a “Counter-Jihad Report” that was intended to depict decent critics of Islam as having influenced Breivik. It was also HNH that engineered the ban of Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller from the UK. That’s how powerful HNH is. Its falsehoods are routinely spread by the British media and routinely acted upon by the British government. HNH members are invited to schools across the UK to preach their propaganda to children. I would love to see Tommy take HNH down once and for all — yet so far he doesn’t seem to have the goods on them.
But no matter. There’s always tomorrow. And meanwhile Panodrama accomplished something terrific: It showed BBC headliner John Sweeney up for the manipulative, dishonest operator that he is. After Tommy has finished showing him Brown’s undercover footage, Sweeney feebly insists that he’s not anti-Greek or anti-Turkish (“I have many Turkish and Greek friends”), that he’s not homophobic (his best friend from school is gay!), that he’s “proud of [his] Irish heritage,” that he’s “not a member of the establishment” (even though he described himself as such in his chat with Brown), etc., etc.
“You’re fake news,” Tommy shouts at Sweeney. “You’re a classist, elitist … You’re a liar, you’re a fraud, you’re a racist, you’re a homophobe … You were trying to destroy my life!” The accusations are as true as can be, and the spectacle of Tommy hurling them directly, eloquently, and fearlessly into the face of this befuddled BBC boob is delicious — at once powerful and poignant, a textbook example of speaking truth to power.
Read the rest here.
Wellington says
As Dennis Prager has said many times, truth is not a left-wing value.
gravenimage says
+1
mortimer says
Leftist journalists believe it isn’t lies and groundless slanders when THEY DO IT.
CRUSADER says
“The Left destroys everything it touches.” — Dennis Prager
frankdeutsch8793 says
+ 1
gravenimage says
Bruce Bawer: Sweeney Agonistes: Tommy Robinson Turns the Tables on the BBC
………………………..
*Wow*–this is *brilliant*.
Kudos to Tommy Robinson–and kudos, especially, to Lucy Brown. It seems that whatever her disagreement with Robinson might have been, that she was not willing to smear him; and was willing, further, to wear a camera in her meeting with the vile John Sweeney.
Probably the most astonishing thing to come out of this is not Sweeney’s hatred and his desire to get Brown to lie about Robinson, including false sexual harassment charges–these are disgusting but de rigueur–but his revealing his own class hatred, and even more shocking, his hatred of homosexuals and “Asians”.
This last means that his smearing of Tommy Robinson is especially cynical–he clearly recognizes in his crude comment about “Asian” cab drivers that there is indeed a problem with Islam as it affects British society, but still has no problem in taking down one of its few honest critics in Britain.
And clearly, this is not just about John Sweeney–while some of these techniques may be his own, it is pretty clear that he could not have acted here without the complicity of the BBC.
It hope this shameful attempt to defame Tommy Robinson blows up in their faces, for the whole nation to see.
Anjuli Pandavar says
Wonderful post, GI.
Wellington says
Seconded.
MsBridgit says
Did this Sweeney person get the sack?
gravenimage says
Thank you, Anjuli and Wellington.
UNCLE VLADDI says
Yep. All criminals are hypocrites, and all hypocrites are criminals.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
I watched Panodrama last night. I found it very confusing. Thanks to Bruce Bawer’s article, posted here, I was able to sort it all in my mind. It was marketed on InfoWars as proving collusion between the government, security services, HNH and the BBC, but I didn’t see much evidence of a connection to government and the security services.
I got the impression that Sweeney does his job so as to, first and foremost, enjoy his expense account. Low life!
It should be repeated that HNH is a Soros backed and funded organization. Soros! This man’s megalomania knows no bounds.
R Russell says
YouTube has been approached to ban Tommy as well. That means his videos about the fake news and John Sweeney will be gone.
The Globalists are fighting back
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
This article refers to a video. Where can it be seen? This is like reading a verbal description of a basketball game.
Light_n_Fluffy says
gravenimage says
Thanks for the link, Light_n_Fluffy.
Juan says
This is a MUST SEE video.
Tommy did an AMAZING job of uncovering DECEITFUL, LYING aaaaaasssssholes in the DISHONEST MEDIA.
b.a. freeman says
*excellent* video; thanks for the link, Mark!
of course, there will be no consequences for mr. sweeney. he *might* have to lay low for a few months, but i doubt that he will even be penalized by the BBC, let alone be fired for gross journalistic misbehavior.
R Russell says
There are 3 other youtube videos. Tommy made them to put out the truth about his past
this is the first one. The Real Tommy Robinson episode 1. Followed by The Real Tommy Robinson episode 2 and The Real Tommy Robinson Episode 3
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
The video can be seen on InfoWars and NewWars as well. Alex Jones has offered InfoWars as a platform for Tommy any time he needs it.
R Russell says
More news. from the Religion of Peace.
Amazon has pulled his book. The truth cannot be told. The Koran hate speech has to be hidden.
maranatha
carpediadem says
Still there, hurry up if you want it :
https://www.amazon.com/Tommy-Robinson-Enemy-State/dp/0957096496#reader_0957096496
Bella says
Here’s the guy that got him bumped off of FB etc. Sign the petition plse folks. -https://www.britainfirst.org/mohammed-shafiq?utm_campaign=mohammed_shafiq1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=britainfirst&fbclid=IwAR3nhaQH28JdN_3qK-Kc69ZFNX9gftwIlrrGRXwMYXtQnvqzsGj8HpW4sOQ
gravenimage says
Mohammed Shafiq is a nasty piece of work, who regularly tries to whitewash Jihad terrorism.
stuart grice says
Bella can not open for petition, any clues Thanks
Janice Andrew says
Bella, the link doesn’t work.
mortimer says
Repeating SLANDERS without providing evidence of their validity is LIBELLOUS DEFAMATION … it is NOT journalism.
These leftist-globalist shills should be sued.
mortimer says
Sweeney has cooked his own goose. Not only did Sweeney transparently try to make Lucy Brown drunk, he also compared working class Britons to SAVAGES and CANNIBALS. This is so insulting that it is surely the end of his career in journalism. The BBC cannot keep Sweeney now that he has characterized working class people in the lowest possible terms.
Bye, Sweeney. No one will miss you. And hopefully, Britons will take a good look at the hubris of the BBC and reassess its value, if any.
jayell says
We`ve already had plenty of time to reach a conclusion about that profligate heap of pretentious fraud otherwise known as the `British (joke – should be `Brainwashing`) Broadcasting Corporation`. that leeches off the British public like some hideously infected malevolent parasite and seeks only to contaminate the minds of the dutiful (credulous?) masses with its spurious so-called `liberal` left-wing agenda bearing zero resemblance to any semblance of intellectual integrity and every hallmark of its own self-serving propaganda. Its smug sense of corporate entitlement is evident in its every pronouncement and action from its well-publicised specious excuse for `moralising` to the thuggish antics of the goons it contracts out to extort the licence-fees from honest British citizens who often rarely if ever waste their time with its output and usually have no desire to continue funding a palpably irrelevant dinosaur that is transparently in breach of the `noble`-sounding charter that is supposed to justify its existence. if Mr/Mrs/Ms Joe/Josephine Public in the UK had any backbone they`d organise themselves to put a collective block on paying for this media-protection-racket, because their `honourable representatives` in Parliament don`t seem to be any more honest and representative than the BBC and won`t have the decency to do anything. Then we might all have the pleasure of witnessing the collapse of this obsolete monstrosity whilst noticing no other difference to our lives except the fact of being 140 Pounds Sterling per year better off.
There, that`s the way most of us over here assess.the BBC..
Garfield says
A+ rant! 👍
Terry Gain says
Tommy Robinson channels James O’Keefe. Wonderful. And Bruce Bawer is a treasure as well. Heroes all.
gravenimage says
Hear, hear, Terry!
peter says
BBC got what it deserved . I wish somebody can do the same to Aljazeera . These are the two most biased pieces of crap who have the nerve to call themselves so called News Organisations of repute . Shame on them ~
Terry Gain says
Peter
Very unfair of you not to include the CBC. As a Canadian I feel disrespected. If I were an American I would sue. If I were French I would shrug. If I were British or German I would cower. And if I were Swedish I would submit,
Lydia Church says
Yes, I was able to watch the video earlier and that’s it.
Then there was the bit about the fake email. Tommy and Lucy set it up for a fake email from ‘Tommy’ that she sends to herself, which was attacking. They both sit by when it is done. Tommy says he wants to see how the slander media campaign will choose to use it against Tommy, just as a test run to see what happens with the email. During the interview with Tommy and John, at the end, John seems to be reaching for a last resolve weapon, and pulls out the email… merely proving Tommy’s point that the establishment media is conspiring against him, and it is all fake news! Tommy tells John to watch the video for that part of it to be exposed as well! It’s classic.
Yet of course that is what happens, they come for your online liberty.
No surprise there.
Georg says
Good job, Tommy. With all this propaganda and smear it can be easy to forget that… hey, sometimes there still is good news! And by the looks of it–more to come.
Scorpio says
Most of the people in the UK know that the BBC is biased in favour of the left, indeed you can’t get a job with them unless you are! So knowing that makes sense of their news reporting.
Tommy Robinson is as toxic from a BBC perspective as is those who voted for Brexit; the “Leavers” didn’t know what they were for! Or they will give you “despite Brexit, the British economy is one of the best performing economies in the EU” and “despite Brexit, more people are in work since records began” In other words the UK has never been in better shape probably BECAUSE were leaving the EU!
CRUSADER says
Hope Not Hate (HNH) sure SOUNDS better as a name than does the Southern Poverty Law Center.
But then again how a name sounds isn’t what things are cracked up to be.
Particularly given the case of CAIR, which is so care-less.
Grant Booth says
That pompous prig Sweeney and the BBC should be sued until their backsides go wooft or whatever. Just watched Panodrama and it is disgusting as to how the BBC, Sweeney and HNH works. One question. WHO are the Nazis? Unfortunately this is how all western journalism sponsored by government works. What will they NOT do to stay in power? They have no problem ruining people’s lives for their own sick purposes to acquire and maintain power over the people. For the most part we can’t even vote them out as they cheat the election system to maintain power! This happens on both sides of the isle, but predominantly the left. There is no left and then is no right, they’re just power hungry politicians wanting to feed at the public trough. Just watch folks, not too distant in the future the people will respond and not in a way that those in power will like.