Before you congratulate Richard Branson on banning the Daily Mail from his trains, remember what he’s doing to the NHS

Taking money from the public purse with one hand while squeezing our NHS with the other is never going to store up corporate brownie points with the British public

Richard Branson has announced that Virgin trains will no longer stock the ‘Daily Mail’ (EPA)

Voltaire’s thinking on free speech was famously summed up as “I detest what you say but will defend until the death your right to say it.” In the case of Virgin Trains’ censorship dispute with the Daily Mail, I think this is worth remembering.

Virgin Trains has decided to stop stocking the Daily Mail on its trains, and the company has a point – I often find the views put forward by the Daily Mail and their columnists abhorrent.

What we should be asking ourselves is: why now? Indeed, Virgin reportedly stopped stocking the paper back in November, citing space as the defining issue rather than some deep-rooted moral objection. Could it be that at a time when Virgin is receiving a large amount of negative coverage, the company is trying to reshape the news cycle in its favour? Surely not – Richard Branson isn’t known for his PR stunts, is he?

The East Coast franchise, which Virgin Trains shares with Stagecoach, has recently been “bailed out” by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling. At the same time, amid a deepening NHS crisis, it has been reported that Virgin Care took legal action against the NHS to secure further clinical contracts.

Taking money from the public purse with one hand, while simultaneously squeezing our National Health Service into submission and further privatisation, is never going to store up corporate brownie points with the British public.

As a liberal writer, I was somewhat alarmed to find my sentiments echoed, almost verbatim, by a Daily Mail spokesperson. They said: “It is disgraceful that, at a time of massive customer dissatisfaction over ever-increasing rail fares, and after the taxpayer was forced to bail out Virgin’s East Coast mainline franchise, a decision strongly criticised by the Mail, that Virgin Trains should now announce that for political reasons it is censoring the choice of newspapers it offers to passengers.”

It’s easy to play the indignant scapegoat card when you’re being picked on, and it must make a novel change for the Mail to be the victim. In progressive circles, it’s a common opinion that the paper regularly publishes content that could be viewed as offensive and discriminatory. The Mail has been known to take editorial stances that threaten the very pillars of our democracy, attacking our judiciary and the ability of MPs to vote with their conscience.

I’ll take my agreement with the Mail with a pinch of salt, as it could well be more Paul Dacre sophistry – spin to get the general public onside. Nonetheless, I agree with most of the aforementioned press statement.

In and of itself, it must be admitted that not stocking a specific title doesn’t necessarily amount to censorship. As many Twitter users have already pointed out, nothing’s stopping passengers from bringing their own copy aboard.

As such, and to my immense relief, my newfound capacity to agree with the Daily Mail doesn’t extend to the argument that Virgin Trains is censoring them because of how they’ve written about the company. Nonetheless, in a healthy, functioning democracy, it’s right that we are having this debate. Daily Mail editors should take note.

The point is, whatever Virgin Trains’ reason behind stopping to stock the paper, I believe it is now using it to manipulate the media and whip up a furore. This is a shallow PR stunt designed to distract the public from the issues that really matter, like an overpriced railway that takes state money and still charges extortionate rates, and the not so much creeping but sprinting privatisation of our NHS.