Just over a fortnight ago a Conservative MP, Louise Mensch made herself look very silly on television when she attacked the #occupyLSX demonstrators who had set up camp outside St Paul's Cathedral in London. The basis of her complaint? That the anti-capitalist demonstrators had queued for a cup of coffee at the nearby Starbucks. Apparently to buy coffee from a capitalist firm in a capitalist economy is the height of hypocrisy, even if there is no alternative.
Well that was not a spontaneous remark. At that point the protest was to be portrayed as an eccentric outbreak of middle class hypocrisy hence her other references to expensive mobile phones and tents.
Then came the "empty tent" story. The Daily Telegraph used a heat sensor camera to argue that the tents were empty at night. The following day the protesters hired the same camera and came to the opposite conclusion.
Over the last few days various senior churchmen have come and gone. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have made cautiously sympathetic and legal action by the Church of England has been put on hold.
Now the smears will get nasty.
Firstly there is the attacks on the occupiers themselves.
The Daily Express opened up using a 91 year old veteran who believed that his regiment's Remembrance Sunday service and parade would be jeopodised by the protest. The Express article finished by saying "The Daily Express’s “Boot Them Out” crusade demands that the squatters be removed before Remembrance Sunday.
Meanwhile the Daily Mail has gone into overdrive. They had the veteran, inappropriate graffiti (the letters "666") on the Cathedral (though it looks like a corrugated iron building, rather than the Cathedral walls) and now they have picked up a story from behind the Sunday Times paywall that cleaners have to deal with "human waste" as protesters are accused of using the Cathedral lobby as a toilet.
As I predicted on these pages last week not all those "protesting" were the real thing. The Sun has sent its own undercover reporter in and doubtless there will be more from both The Sun and other papers. Incidentally The Sun reporter says she was invited to the "love tent" from which she had to make her "excuses and leave". More of that over the next few weeks.
But the Church of England, especially St Paul's itself is faring no better. Senior clergy haven't (yet) carried out the threatened eviction demanded by some sections of the popular press so they are now "fair game". First up was the Daily Telegraph with its sponsored-choirboys-and-seats-for-the-rich. That was certainly designed to get the non-conformist blood boiling.
Today the Mail of Sunday runs a story that St Paul's is financed by 80 wealthy City assets strippers who have thrown thousands out the work. Surprise, surprise. They'll be exposing the Pope as a Catholic next.
So in future weeks the stories will get more lurid and more unpleasant. The protesters have made a strategic mistake in allowing some among them to wear masks. This will make press and police infiltration easier. Stand by for splits, violence and internal dissent. The protesters will almost certainly be caned for whatever they do on Remembrance Sunday and during any subsequent big event. Watch out for stories about the "love tent" discovered by The Sun, expect a rape or indecent assault allegation.
Meanwhile the big wigs in the Church of England, especially those with any connection to St Paul's, will find their private lives trawled for financial, moral or sexual hypocrisy. Especially sex. Now is not the time to be a bishop, especially if you have a close friend who is an actress, or even an actor for that matter in these more enlightened times.
One thing is certain. Even if you have misgivings about the protest, the establishment is certainly rattled.
