Independent owner to be inundated with emails on Liddle

The new owner of the Independent, Alexander Lebedev, is to be inundated with emails from the 3,500 strong facebook group opposing the Independent’s mooted appointment of Rod Liddle as editor.

Members of the group were emailed last night by creator Alex Higgins, a teacher in North London. The message says:

“Already this campaign has caused 1 advertiser to pull out, made the news here and in Russia and I have learned that the Lebedevs are very seriously reconsidering Liddle. If they receive 1,000 or more messages I believe we can stop his appointment.

“This could be a really significant moment for the British media – a real grassroots stand against bigotry in the press that can’t be ignored.”

A model letter is provided although readers are urged to put in their own voice since, “A mass of identical e-mails aren’t as effective as a mass of individualised ones.” Email addresses for Alexander Lebedev and the Independent’s former editor Simon Kelner, who is said to be favour the appointment.

Since the facebook group was launched on Saturday evening, it has grown to over 3,546 members. A rival campaign group supporting “Rod Liddle for Independent editor” has attracted under 200 members. The page claims to be a “bit of fun, created after reading a particularly po-faced piece on Leftie Blog Harry’s Place about what a disaster for the world in general his appointment would be. I love so-called liberals, they are so easy to wind up ”.

UPDATE 16.02

Rod Liddle has been back on the bile calling blogger LF Barfe, who recounted a story about him, a “cunt” by email. Read the full story here.