Corbyn assailant jailed, but significance of his attack still minimised
By
Chris Marsden
27 March 2019
The jailing of John Murphy for “common assault by beating” confirms the warning made by the Socialist Equality Party of the serious implications for the working class of the March 3 assault on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The SEP warned that the attack on the 69-year-old politician by the burly 31-year-old must be taken as “a serious warning of the dangerous right-wing political climate being whipped up by Britain’s ruling elite and its media outlets.”
Corbyn was in the Finsbury Park Mosque’s Muslim Welfare House, when Murphy smashed an egg in his clenched fist into the side of the Labour leader’s head while he was sitting down eating with his wife, Laura.
The media responded universally by downplaying the incident, referring constantly to an “egging,” or someone throwing an egg, even though Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott explained that Murphy had effectively punched Corbyn leaving a livid red mark.
Video footage, which can be viewed here, confirms Abbott’s account of a violent and serious assault. Yet the media has not changed its tune. The main news channels, the BBC and ITN, both refer to an “egging” when reporting Murphy’s 28-day sentence. This is despite Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, calling Murphy’s actions “an attack on the democratic process,” as she sentenced him to 14 days behind bars, to be on licence for the next year and to pay a £115 victim surcharge.
Arbuthnot continued, “The impact on Jeremy Corbyn has been considerable, he says he was very shocked and surprised and he had always previously felt safe. Mr Corbyn wouldn’t have been able to anticipate being hit, or that the…