Truth: the first casualty of today's Daily Telegraph

The Telegraph, and its Sunday siblings used to be model newspapers. Not anymore

The UK’s new Labour government is not perfect. It is not even nearly perfect. Nothing in politics ever is. It will make mistakes, it will go too far in one direction and not far enough in another.

But the vapid vituperation heaped upon it by the Daily and Sunday Telegraph is almost literally insane. If the Telegraph was a person, it would be at risk of being sectioned.

Those in charge at Telegraph Towers – Chris Evans at the Daily, “Mad” Allister Heath at the Sunday – were often hard on the Tories. But only because they weren’t half Tory enough. Today, its plethora of columnists are, in effect, mouthpieces for Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Suella Bravemann – three of the most radical (as in Far Right) politicial ”influencers” in post-Brexit Britain.

In 2017, Evans said that fake news was "great" for the established media because it fostered more trust in traditional news brands by emphasising their commitment to truth.

He added: “The most interesting thing to me as a journalist is not so much how much money [the Telegraph] is making, it’s restoring confidence in what we do.”

Hmm. So how about these headlines, lifted from today’s Sunday Telegraph?

The Labour Party does not understand the most basic rules of economics

Britain is becoming a socialist dystopia where criminals run amok

‘Why does Labour hate me so much after I worked for 48 years?’

Labour is now officially the stupid party

How Labour could take away your state pension

Labour ‘retirement tax’ to hit 300,000 more pensioners

I should stress that these are not the craziest Telegraph headlines of recent weeks. Here are some others, from the August 28 edition:

Wealth tax looms amid pressure from Labour’s union paymasters

Why Starmer’s deal with Germany could help PM’s plan to undo hard Brexit

Starmer’s Brexit plot could turn Britain into the sick man of Europe

Labour’s war on pensioners has already backfired disastrously

Labour has already broken the central promise it made to the electorate

Labour’s brand of politics is a busted flush. Here’s why

Labour’s immature trash talking has real consequences for Britain

Starmer’s grim vision for Britain’s future

Labour may be plotting a devastating plan to make millions tax prisoners in their own homes

The stagnation mystery is a disaster for Starmer and a tragedy for Britain

The Labour Party has become a national joke

I could go on. And I will. All from recent days.

Keir Starmer has never looked less happy to be in power

Labour’s abandonment of democracy will destroy the party

The stagnation mystery is a disaster for Starmer and a tragedy for Britain

Things can only get worse under Labour’s bankrupt Government

Rachel Reeves is about to hoodwink Britain with a disastrous tax raid

Of course we can build beautifully – Labour simply don’t want us to

I exposed Yvette Cooper’s shameful immigration lie. It’s becoming a trend

Labour may be plotting a devastating plan to make millions tax prisoners in their own homes

Labour is in danger of failing the lockdown generation all over again

Labour’s pound shop populists are now heading for a humiliating fall

The loathing, amounting to absolute hatred, displayed for Keir Starmer and his team has been building at a frenetic pace ever since the election. Labour has been in power for just two months following 14 years of Tory rule marked by no fewer than six prime ministers. But even before the votes were counted, the Telegraph has been foaming at the mouth, unable to concede that there might anything good or reasonable, or honest, about the new administration.

For a hundred years or more, the Telegraph (and Morning Post) was able to differentiate between facts and opinion. It was a  fine newspaper that faithfully reflected the conservative views of its readers. The Sunday, though more eccentric, followed the same path. Not anymore. Scaremongering is what they do best these days. The group risks becoming  a cancer on the body politic. The only good news about its sorry decline is that with each passing day it matters less and less what the Telegraph thinks about anything. We should be grateful for small mercies.