HMS Margaret Thatcher

Guido can not bring himself to even publicise the name of the non-entity MP calling for Maggie's new statue to be removed from the Members Lobby. At the unveiling ceremony even the speaker, Gorbals Martin, graciously eulogised the woman who saved Britain from socialist decline. For Guido, bronze is not enough.

The Hitch has come up with a brilliant proposal to honour the woman who sent the Royal Navy half way round the world to defeat a fascist junta and unshackled Britain's economy, in doing so she restored the nation's pride and international reputation. Name a warship after her.

Guido has done some research, and discovered that the Navy's newest and most advanced Type 45 Destroyers come into service in 2009. Costing a billion each they will be the pride of the Navy and the most powerful warships ever to fly the naval ensign. Can there be a more fitting tribute to the lady? God willing she will still be with us to launch her ship in 2009.

Britons never shall be slaves - HMS Margaret Thatcher

2020 Vision Thing

Guido was at the launch of Milburn & Clarke's 2020 Vision Thing.

It is yet another "participatory" website, policy orientated, debating the future direction of the Labour party, blah, blah, blah. Yawn.

Because we don't have many of them already do we? CompassOnline, ProgressOnline, LabourHome, LabourSpace and even PM.Gov.UK. None of the Lobby believed it, all the questions were about Gordon. All you need to know from the questions is this: despite being repeatedly asked in different ways, neither of them would endorse Brown for leader, or rule themselves out of running for leader.

Best contribution was from Austin Mitchell, he said websites were becoming "the new opium of the people". Mitchell went up in Guido's estimation for that, less than a dozen backbench MPs turned up and the media out-numbered them 5 to 1. This is all about stopping Gordon whatever Milburn and Clark say, Milburn was smirking throughout and his face said, you know I'm lying, I know I'm lying, but we have to pretend this is about policies not personalities. No policies were mentioned at all during the hour long press conference, no one even asked about policies.

UPDATE : Lord Hollick is writing the cheques.

Couple of Quid on a Kamikaze

Miliband has come in sharply to 9/1 second favourite. Time to take profits if you backed him at longer odds methinks.

At an outside 100/1 on Betfair, Milburn is worth a flutter surely? Guido has put a few quid on the Kamikaze for a trading bet. Just in case he runs...

Pollster's Answers Lead to More Questions

Opinion Leader Research have got back to Guido and they say nobody paid for that research. They just asked questions slanted to favour Gordon for no particular reason. They also say they won their lucrative HM Treasury contract and the Bank of England contract in a competitive tendering process.

They won't say why the Treasury needs pollsters, what they poll about, or how much they have been paid.

Guido could understand if the Treasury needed statisticians, but pollsters? Perhaps the Bank of England would be interested in measuring, say for example, people's inflation expectations, but their opinions? If public money has been spent by the Treasury on pollsters who have asked questions that assist Gordon in his personal political ambitions, that would be a massive breach of the Ministerial Code bordering on corruption. If it were to be proved that the payments to do something innocuous were effectively a hidden subsidy covering the costs of doing polling on issues of interest to Gordon Brown for no particular reason it would be scandalous.

Since Gordon's personal pollsters won't give Guido answers, maybe Gordon will answer Stewart Jackson's parliamentary questions?

• To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the decision to engage Opinion Leader Research to undertake polling for HM Treasury was subject to a competitive tendering process and will he make a statement.
• To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent in each year since 2001 by HM Treasury on polling services provided by Opinion Leader Research and will he make a statement.

A co-conspirator points out that they also had no identifiable paying client for their "What it means to be British" research in 2005. Shortly afterwards Gordon began loudly banging his Britishness drum. Opinion Leader Research has helped Gordon on "Britishness" issues before, their research was used extensively in “New Britain” a 1999 publication produced by the Smith Institute. The pamphlet was itself singled out and explicitly criticised by the Charity Commission as being party political in the first 2001 investigation into the Sith.

Guido sees a pattern here; the Treasury hosts over a hundred of the Smith Institute's seminars - rent-free, simultaneously the Treasury pays the Smith Institute to hold seminars. The Treasury pays Deborah Mattinson's Opinion Leader Research generously, Deborah Mattinson sits on the Smith Institute's board and does "polling" that is helpful to Gordon - for free. She also writes hagiographical press articles about Gordon, based on her own polling research, whenever negative independent poll findings come out.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the taxpayer has been paying, via the Treasury, for Gordon's polling and spin, all tightly coordinated via the Smith Institute to promote the Brownite political agenda. This is abuse of office.

Yippee Aye-Ay

Outriders coming... If you believe all that guff about Milburn and Clarke having a friendly chat with Brown about the "need for a debate" and emailing the PLP for just that reason, you'll believe the tooth fairy took all the WMD in Iraq away. Them darn Outriders is gettin' themselves a possee together tomorrow...

Scottish Question

Could someone point Charlie Kennedy in the right direction. He was just seen by a co-conspirator heading towards the Chamber via all four walls.

Blears' SpAd is on Holiday

Paul Richards is a strange lad. He chooses to spend his holidays working on the boss' deputy leadership campaign and ringing Guido to tell him he was on leave yesterday and today "in accordance with the Code of Conduct". Wonder why he panicked and bothered changing his Facebook entry this morning, after Guido's story, in that case?

It will be September by the time the campaign is over - if he is going to help the boss and stick to the Code of Conduct, he better take unpaid leave. The co-conspirators will be watching...

If you see any other greasy pole climbing SpAds helping their principal's campaign at the taxpayer's expense, email Guido. Photos especially welcome.

Sith Launch "Operation Bluewash"

As the Charity Commission looks increasingly likely to deal with the Sith firmly they have launched a transparently obvious attempt to rope in Tories to provide cover for them. One problem - they don't know any.

So they have taken to advertising in the Speccie in the hope of finding Tories interested in what Margaret Beckett has to say in a John Smith Memorial Lecture. Not that attractive a subject to Tories Guido thinks. No doubt when the Charity Commission rebukes them for their Brownite partisanship they will point at the Speccie ad and say "we tried". Guido has magnanimously RSVP'd.

Now it is a public charity event being held on public property (No. 11 as usual). Since Guido is a member of the public they can't have any reason to refuse to allow him to attend...

Hat-tip : Border Reiver

Spin Cycle : Caine Off to Bell Pottinger

Jonathan Caine, a former Tory Northern Ireland SpAd for Mayhew is going back to spinning. He has had previous with the Communications Group and is until next week still a SpAd on NIO & DCA until he joins Bell Pottinger.

More stories of Tories off to spin merchants welcome.

Do email Guido names of newly minted Tory lobbyists...

Facebook F***-Up - Blear's SpAd Admits Misconduct

The whole Facebook fad has passed Guido by, the many invitations go unanswered.

Paul Richards should have done the same, or at least have been more careful before he advertised online his breaches of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers. Unless he is currently on leave, the above is a prima facie admission of misconduct. My thanks to a supporter of a rival candidate for the above. No doubt someone more public spirited will make the appropriate complaint.

UPDATE : He has hurriedly changed his entry this morning. You know Guido might just be motivated enough to make a formal complaint. He is after all wasting taxpayers money on Blears' private interests.

Crick is on the Venture Capitalist's Case Tonight

Tonight he is taking a look at Ronnie Cohen's generosity. Crick is brilliant isn't he, where does he get his story ideas?

Incidentally, talk is that Newsnight are going to try out a hot, hungry, new investigative reporter soon...

Leeds Lackeys Not Lovers

Guido hates following up other people's stories but this one appeared too juicy to miss. The Observer's Pendennis claimed that James Mckenzie, George Osborne's new researcher, was sharing a flat with Sarah Mulholland, Blinky Balls' new researcher.

So Guido calls up Osborne's office looking for Mckenzie. He is not important enough to be allocated his own phone and desk Guido is told, but they will pass on the message. A few minutes later...

Ring, ring...
JM "How did you get my number?"
GF "I didn't, you called me"
JM "Oh"
GF "It's about the Pendennis story"
JM "Did you write that?"
GF "No, I write the Guido Fawkes blog"

After that confusing start he vehemently denies living with Ed Ball's new assistant. But strangely he gets agitated when Guido asks has he met the lady concerned.

JM "I will have to call my office and find out if I should be talking to you"
GF "They told you to call me didn't they?
JM "I've got to go"

So Guido Calls Blinky's office...

Ring, ring
SM "Hello Sarah here"
GF "Hello it's Guido Fawkes here, I'm calling about this story"
SM "It is rubbish"
GF "So you have never met him"
SM "I have because he is on the same course as me in Leeds"
GF "But you aren't, haven't.."
SM "No!"
GF "Give my regards to Blinky."

So that is that, isn't it?

Smith Institute's Mattinson Spins Poll for Brown

The Brownites are obviously getting increasingly desperate about his bad personal poll ratings versus Cameron. The Guardian/ICM survey last week showing Brown 13% adrift of Cameron (worse than Blair) shook Labour MPs at a vital time and led to renewed calls for Labour to skip a generation with Miliband.

A week later comes the Brownite response, today's Guardian reports on a survey of a hundred "opinion leaders" which shows Gordon outperforming Dave on a whole range of indicators - scoring a modest 92% on integrity.

Who conducted this highly scientific "survey"? None other than Opinion Leader Research run by Deborah Mattinson, the long time Labour Party consultant who is now Gordon Brown's unofficial pollster and sits on the advisory committee of the Smith Institute - alongside the veteran U.S. pollster Bob Shrum. It was Shrum's anti-Cameron advice to the Sith that forced the Charity Commission's official investigation. Guido wonders why a non-partisan, non-political, educational charity has so many pollsters involved?

Mattinson has plenty of previous, she was wheeled out by the dark forces of the Sith the last time Brown's negative ratings caused rumblings. Popping up in the Times with an article claiming, ironically, that it was all spin and that Gordon is in fact a popular guy.

Of course surveying "opinion leaders" is completely subjective and easily manipulated to give the required answers. Mattinson's clients know it, but since her clients include Defra, the Department of Education and Science, the Department for Work and Pensions and coincidentally HM Treasury, you can be sure she knows where her bread is buttered and what they want to hear.

Is Guido the only one who has noticed that in times of need, Gordon's pollster conducts polls with dubious methodologies which she then writes up in hagiographical pro-Gordon articles? Is Guido the only one who thinks there might, in the circumstances, be a serious conflict of interest in her not only sitting on the board of the Smith Institute but also having HM Treasury as a paying client? Who commissioned and paid for this survey of "opinion leaders"? How did she get the HM Treasury contract? Was it by competitive tender?

Guido has asked them repeatedly this morning who commissioned the poll, but nobody at Opinion Leader Research seems to know...

UPDATE : Guido has just noticed that The Sun this morning headlines Deborah's "survey" Brown is back in poll victory. Will that do Gordon?

The Labour Capital Party

The GMB's anti-private equity campaign against venture capitalism is gaining traction as anger over job losses at the AA and Birds Eye spreads across the unions.

Venture capitalist, Ronnie "PFI" Cohen, Gordon's moneybags backer, has a direct debit paying the equivalent of £20,000 a month to the Labour party. Nigel Doughty and Jonathan Aisbitt are another couple of red blooded capitalists happy to chip in a quarter of a million a year to the party formerly known as the worker's party. Peter Hain said he wanted City slickers to give up their bonuses, but this week he doesn't mind them giving their bonuses to the Labour party. He who pays the piper calls the tunes.

Last week Hain wanted City slickers to give their bonuses to "charity or invest it in regeneration schemes for unemployed kids". Now he says "private equity funds provide a very good vehicle for start-ups, for rescue operations and for investment to grow" - which they do - with a tapered relief 10% tax rate on liquidation and tax deductible debt costs to offset against profits. Gordon of course ultimately makes the rules, is he going to side with his millionaire backers, or the workers?

Blair Breaks His "Last Conference" Pledge

"The next party conference in a couple of weeks will be my last party conference as party leader." Tony Blair, Thursday, 7 September, 2006

He also attended the Labour youth wing's national conference in Glasgow last week. Can Gordon really believe he'll stick to the deal?

Croke Park, National Anthems, England v Ireland

On 21st November 1920, British troops, infuriated by the IRA's assassination that morning of 14 British agents, retaliated by firing wildly into the Croke Park crowd during a Gaelic football match between Tipperary and Dublin. They killed 11 spectators and a player, Michael Hogan, while two other people were trampled to death. Later that night two IRA officers and a sympathiser were shot in the cells of Dublin Castle in shameful circumstances. Two subsequent British military courts of inquiry into the massacre were held. They found that the shooting "was carried out without orders and exceeded the demands of the situation." Major-General Boyd, the officer commanding Dublin District, added that in his opinion, "the firing on the crowd was carried out without orders, was indiscriminate, and unjustifiable". It was the first Bloody Sunday.

Lansdowne Road is being refurbished and so, for the first time, Croke Park, a place of Irish nationalist symbolism, is being used for international rugby. The location of today's rugby match has acute political significance, Sinn Fein are trying to stir up trouble with a protest at the ground. It will therefore be an extremely emotional moment when the overwhelmingly Irish crowd hears the band play God Save the Queen.

Guido's view is that this is rugby, and rugby fans will want to enjoy it without the historical politics. There is however a rumour going round that Peter Hain will lay a commemorative wreath at Croke Park. That would only serve to further politicise the event. It would reflect well on the crowd if the British national anthem was respected. But remember this is the ground where British bullets once reigned down on Irish civilians, there is not a hope in hell that they will like hearing Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us.

The Irish national anthem is no less militant, in fact it is implicitly anti-British, and tells of despots from "a land beyond the wave". It is explicitly a soldier's song "In Erin's cause, come woe or weal, 'Mid cannon's roar and rifles' peal" the Irish Rugby team will sing, in Gaelic, that they are sworn to be free.

Guido won't be booing the British national anthem this afternoon, but he will be cheering O'Driscoll to victory...

UPDATE : 43 - 13 and the proper respect shown for the national anthems. Ireland can be proud.

Friday Caption Contest (Prat Petition Edition)

Polls Say Dave's Dope Days Don't Matter

Populus has done some fieldwork asking about Cameron and cannabis in response to him admitting spliffing his way through Eton.

Anthony Wells reports

81% of people said it didn’t matter that Cameron had taken cannabis at university and there was even higher support for Cameron’s contention that MPs shouldn’t be expected to answer such questions: 85% said that Cameron should not be expected “to answer detailed questions about whether he tried drugs in his youth because all politicians are entitled to have made mistakes when they were growing up”.

With the Daily Mail and the Mirror working overtime in the search for "Cocaine Conservatives" headlines, Guido wonders will it matter? Will anyone be surprised? Speaking as a metrosexual, metropolitan liberal, Guido thinks not. Who exactly would be genuinely outraged or surprised if it was discovered that twenty years ago he was snorting coke off Oxford maiden's thighs? Mirror headline writers? Paul Dacre? It is not as if the staff of those two publications are complete strangers to a Friday night pick-me-up. Well, maybe not Melanie Phillips.

New Labour's New Generation

With polling now showing that the Tories are seen as more competent on the economy than Labour, Gordon's last ace looks to have been trumped. In 1992 the Tories lost their reputation for superior economic competence and it has taken a decade of stealth taxes for Gordon to lose his. Coupled with the fact that he is just not likeable, even in comparison to Blair, Labour MPs in marginal seats must be beginning to wonder about their chances. Frank Field may have an axe to grind but he is vocalising what many in the PLP are thinking, ask yourself why are emails going round attempting to guage support for Miliband? It shows the depth of despair in some quarters about the prospect of Gordon leading Labour into opposition.

In the last three months punters have backed Miliband from 40/1 down to 15/1, discounting his unambiguous declarations of his non-intention of running for leader. Heseltine said much the same a decade or so ago. But with Gordon facing only joke candidates from the left of the party, the centre and pragmatic wing must be thinking about the next generation. Don't forget Hutton either...

Spin-Cycle : Cash for Conservatives

One of the sub-plots in the dire but compelling Party Animals show is the need for lobbyists to get on track with the Tories as the smell of power gets stronger. It is accurate, Guido hears name after name falling into the clutches of spin-merchants.

So Guido is going to do a series on those principled individuals who now that their party is in the running for office, make a run for the money.

First up is one of Dave's babes, Sophie Pimm. According to the press release from Fleishman-Hillard she was the former operations manager for David Cameron; "Pim was press and campaign manager for David Cameron’s leadership campaign, where she oversaw the country-wide media tour, and previously fulfilled a similar role for Michael Howard during the 2005 general election." Guido thought she did Dave's make-up for the telly.

Do email Guido more names of newly minted Tory lobbyists...

Gordon's Shadowy Henchmen

Guido has been told by sources that the Smith Institute is the tip of the iceberg for Gordon's secretive ways. Guido's attention has been directed towards the Political Research Taskforce (PRT) run out of 39 Victoria Street. This is the shadowy nerve centre of the Brownite party-within-a-party.

Ex-alumni of the PRT include its former leading light, Spencer Livermore*, who is now Gordon's chief political and strategy adviser.

Sources tell Guido that Gordon's dozen SpAds (compared to the usual ministerial 2 and not forgetting the 8 civil servant support staff) cost the taxpayer well over a £1 million a year. The SpAds liase closely with the PRT team at 39 Victoria Street. Brownite ministers even have their spin lines co-ordinated by the PRT. Wary ministers will nervously check with the PRT to find out what the correct Brownite, as distinct from party, line is on an issue before going on Newsnight to parrot the approved formula. Such is the paranoia of the Brownites and the fear of his wrath amongst junior ministers.

Strangely the cost-cutting redundancies at Labour HQ have left the PRT largely unscathed...

++ Developing ++

*Spencer knew about the Loans for Lordships scandal during the 2005 election period. A memo emailed to him and obtained by the Observer in November outlined the situation. So presumably his master, who was running the election campaign, also knew about the secret loans.

Remember, Remember....

Centuries of anti-Catholic discrimination could come to an end if John Gummer gets his way. Not often that Guido lines up behind Cornerstone, but with this bill the headbangers should prevail.

Gummer's speech moving the bill was good, very gently listing some of the slights against the Catholic church still on the statute books. He neglected to list the terrible suffering of Guido's co-religionists under protestant tyrants. That may be history, but in truth it is shameful that today a purportedly modern liberal democracy discriminates against one specific faith.

Somebody said to Guido that it was indeed a terrible shame that Baby Ms Fawkes could not become head of state or even marry one. Wrong on both counts Guido told them, the presidency of Ireland is hers for the taking...

Team Cameron's Required Reading

Frank Luntz's new book Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear has a strong message for political operators. It is a message that Gordon Brown would be wise to heed. Luntz is becoming a bit of a Cameroonie guru, it was his Newsnight poll that many think helped tip a lot of Tories into Dave's camp.

Writing in this morning's Speccie he warns the Brownites that "Gordon Brown may have much to teach David Cameron in the ways of governing, but Cameron is proving to be a better student of language."

Guido's English mistress told him that "words are but wise men's counters and the money of fools." How Guido laughed...

++ SKY : RUTH TURNER WAS QUESTIONED AGAIN ++

UPDATE : She reported to the police yesterday under the terms of her bail. She was re-interviewed, which technically is re-arrest methinks.

Iron Lady No More

Fear not, she lives, and now she has been cast in bronze. A full size statue of Baroness Thatcher will be placed in the Members' Lobby today. The statue was commissioned by the Advisory Committee on Works of Art in 2003 from sculptor Antony Dufort.

The statue's position means that every politician who passes by will have to look up to her. Rightly so.

C4 News on Political Bloggers

See GuyNews.TV for the extract :

Prezza Takes the Biscuit

The cost of the Deputy Prime Minister's Office has risen by 30%. If you thought Prescott was bad value for money when it cost £2m to keep him on the croquet lawns and perform his various roles, then a 30% cost overrun to £2.6m is outrageous.

All he has to do nowadays is consume tea and biscuits, keep his trousers up and his hands off the secretaries, how can this cost us £2.6m?

What the hell is he spending the money on?

Miliband's Blog-Rolls

New additions to Miliband's taxpayer-funded blog-roll include Iain Dale, Omar’s Blog, Recess Monkey, Ellee Seymour, Labour Home, Conservative Home, LibDem Blogs, and guess who?

He obviously didn't get the memo from the Boycott-Guido-Coz-He-Is-Evil crowd that hang out at Tom Watson's place. That will be proof to the Brownites that the Miliblogger is definitely the new enemy now Reid is done in. Maybe he just secretly likes Guido's 2005 prophecy?
Comparing his blog to this blog shows that it costs the taxpayer 50p for every reader he gets per month, whereas here in the creative part of the economy, Guido's blog is forced to contribute to Gordon's coffers. Therefore Guido won't be reciprocating with a blog-roll link to the Miliblogger until he buys lunch...

Unions to Gordon : End Ronnie's Tax Breaks

Ronnie "PFI" Cohen is Gordon's moneybags backer. His Apax Partners is Britain's biggest Private Equity finance house. The Private Equity sector is one of the hottest areas of profitability in the City and demonstrates the continuing adaptability of capitalism. Apax does the traditional sweat or strip the assets plays of financial engineers of yore and is also a "stakeholder" in New Labour's PFI deals. Apax, through various subsidaries, is a huge "stakeholder" with multi-billion exposure to Gordon's off-the-balance-sheet PSBR dodge.

The unions don't buy into the "stakeholders" and Public Private Partnership (PPP) language of New Labour, they see it as old fashioned profiteering by the private sector vultures of venture capitalism at the expense of the workers. The GMB is calling for 100% windfall taxes and an end to tax relief on debt financed Private Equity deals. So who will Gordon listen to, the unions who oppose him or the PFI-profiteering venture capitalist who backs him?

Don't hold your breath, it was after all Gordon who secured Ronnie his knighthood and later tried to get him a peerage...

Happy Birthday GordonTories Poll 40% Against Blair / 42% Against Brown

As Gordon celebrates his 56th birthday this morning, we learn that an ICM poll in the Guardian puts Cameron's Conservatives on 40 (+3), Labour 31, LibDems 19% (-4). A gap only seen three times since Margaret Thatcher's day. Labour hasn't polled as badly as this since Michael Foot. On a 40% share the Tories could achieve a parliamentary majority.

When ICM compared Cameron’s Conservatives vs Brown’s Labour vs Ming’s Lib Dems - it got even worse for Labour. The margin widened further to Conservatives 42% (+2): Labour 29% (-3%): LibDem 17% (-3). Happy Birthday Gordon...

Blair : I'm Not Listening

The Downing Street e-petitions exercise tells us something fundamental about Tony Blair and his government. They are not listening, your opinion is irrelevant. They view the e-petitions project as a means by which they can put their case to opponents. Tony doesn't take note, a million signatures against road pricing merely means that they will have to explain it again and again until they get their way. As soon as the anti-ID cards petition closed, signatories got an email telling us why ID cards would lead us to Nirvana. Consultation in New Labour's dictionary means "to seek approval".

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Rich & Mark's Monday Morning View

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Peter Hitchens R.I.P., the Hitch Lives

The showdown has led to a gracious climb down. Peter Hitchens' bicycle visit to the Hitch convinced him that the poor chap had suffered enough. The Hitch blog lives on mind you, and it is still an homage to Peter Hitchens.

The Hitch is funnier of course. Like you imagine the original would be like if he hit the bottle harder, swore more and was a little less restrained - a Viz version of the original. The demo outside the Mail's offices complaining about the parody Hitchens' blog still ranks as one of the most amusing moments in left-wing, po-faced protestor stupidty. Hitchens crying to Iain Dale about his suffering made Guido laugh as well.

Incidentally, some months ago Peter Hitchens' producer contacted Guido to assist with his upcoming docu-turnover of Cameron. The producer talked an unbearable amount of bollocks about how it was going to be a fair and balanced portrayal of Cameron. Guido said he'd be happy to discuss Dave over a bottle or two with Peter (trans. not bloody wasting time with the dreary media studies graduate who makes Hitchens' tea). Have heard nothing since.