Curmudgeon of Honour?

Let us hypothesize a fictional British man of letters in the aftermath of a terrible war, circa 1946. Imagine if you will that he is a socialist, as many in his time were, and a playwright of some renown. So interesting are his plays that even establishment newspapers on the ‘right’ take him seriously, fondly calling him a Curmudgeon of Honour.

However, let us also imagine that as the full horrors of Nazi atrocities come to light in post war Europe, our imaginary left wing playwright loudly declares that former leading member of the German National Socialist Party and head of the Luftwaffe Herman Göring should not be on trial for war crimes in Nuremberg. In fact, he goes so far as to sign a petition along with like-minded socialists to Free Herman Göring.

Now I wonder if the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian would still regard him as just another leading playwright, given his apologia for a mass murdering ethnic cleansing Nazi? Surely that would be enough for the great and good of the establishment to put him beyond the pale.

I guess not.