This is an appalling story in The Guardian that seems to be dragging the name of a once-respected charity through the mud.
The Sun are claiming that Miliband refused to do a photo-op because supporting Help for Heroes might anger “Lefties”. Labour dismiss this as a lie.
And all too predictably the bottom half of Twitter is full of knuckle-dragging bigots who claim Miliband is pandering to Muslims.
I have supported this charity in the past; in recent years Mostly Autumn have done a lot of fundraising for their cause. Help for Heroes has always advertised itself as non-partisan and non-political; had they ever displayed an obvious right-wing or militaristic bias there is no way I would ever have supported them.
Has Help for Heroes jumped the shark by willingly getting involved in dirty party political mudslinging? Or have they been misled by the Murdoch press and underestimated just how nasty the gutter tabloids can be?
Whichever is the case, it’s difficult for the charity’s reputation not to be tarnished by this.