Is it any wonder more women don't speak out about sex pests?

We all know that the Daily Mail is a despicable hard-right propaganda rag with a long history of launching sickening attacks on people, stretching all the way back to their attacks on Jewish refugees back in the 1930s when they were propagandising for Adolf Hitler and imploring their readers to join the British Union of Fascists.

Recent Daily Mail hate campaigns include their constant bombardment of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant front pages; attacking a dead war hero as "evil" and "un-British" just because his son went on to lead the Labour Party; attacking judges as "enemies of the people" for daring to defy Theresa May's autocratic effort to bypass parliament; attacking non Brexit fanatics as "saboteurs" who deserve to be crushed; and attacking university academics who dare to speak about Brexit in anything but the most gushingly positive terms.

All of these Daily Mail hatchet jobs are deeply concerning for their divisiveness, their extreme-right sentiments, their lack of respect for democracy and the rule of law, and the degrading anti-intellectualism that the Daily Mail editorial staff clearly want to foster in their readers.

However the Daily Mail's latest hatchet job just goes to show that their servitude to the Tory political establishment has become so repugnant that they've actually set about smearing someone who claims to be a victim of sexual harassment.

I have no sympathy for Kate Maltby's right-wing politics whatever, but when she said that the Tory MP and First Secretary Damian Green touched her inappropriately and sent her sexually suggestive text messages, she deserves to be believed, not smeared and harangued in the press.

Damian Green (Theresa May's right-hand man) has already instructed libel lawyers to take Kate Maltby down, and his mates at the Daily Mail have waded in to support him with a full page spread of vitriolic attacks against the young journalist, calling her a "very pushy lady" and accusing her of playing a "poor little me act".

The Daily Mail have never attacked her like this before, when she was just a compliant little rich girl hanging around the Tory party, but as soon as she speaks out: Bang - here's a double page spread of absolute vitriol.

One of the most grotesque things about the hatchet job is the way the Daily Mail claim that she's "a woman determined to make it in politics - whatever the cost".

It's absolutely crazy to imagine that making allegations of sexual misconduct against one of the most senior politicians in the country is a way of advancing her political career. 

Everyone knows that countless women (and not just a few men either) have kept quiet about the sexual harassment/abuse that they've suffered at work because the perpetrator is in such a position of power they could easily wreck their careers.

If Maltby's accusations against Damian Green turn out to be true, then there won't be a "cost" either. Her decision to speak out will have resulted in a Tory sleazeball being exposed for what he is: Not just a man who touches young women inappropriately, but one who actually tries to sue them for daring to speak out about it!

If on the other hand it turns out Maltby invented or exaggerated the incidents (I'm very unsure why she would have) then her reputation will be left in tatters, but until it's established which of them is telling the truth, the sympathy has to be with the victim.

By wading in to attack the woman who made the claims, the Daily Mail have not just shown their ugly bias in favour of the Tory establishment either, they've also provided clear evidence of why so many sexual harassment/abuse victims are afraid to speak out.

Why would anyone speak out against rich and powerful sex pests when they know that the sex pest's friends in the mainstream media are likely to launch this kind of repulsive hate campaign against them just for daring to speak out?

Anyone who is familiar with the Daily Mail knows that they've got a long history of doing the worst possible take on things. From their pro-Hitler propaganda in the 1930s, through their disgusting anti-gay "abortion hope after gay genes finding" headline in the 1990s, to their recent vitriolic attacks on any judges and academics who dare to question Theresa May's shambolic and profoundly anti-democratic handling of the Brexit process. 

So a double page spread of vitriolic attacks on a woman who claims to have been the victim of the inappropriate sexual behaviour of a high profile Tory MP is just another example of a worst possible take from the depraved right-wing hacks at the Daily Mail.

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