Tory Poster Blunder Commits Party to Tear Up EU Treaty

On the tight-rope issue that is the EU treaty, the Tories are campaigning hard for a referendum, which Gordon will not concede. What Cameron has refused so far to concede to his own right-wing is a retrospective referendum should they be in power in 2010 - two years after the treaty will have been confirmed by Parliament.

Hague has been firmly evasive on this point, Tory EU-headbangers have also been, well, as headbanging as always on the same point. Tomorrow's new "CANCELLED" poster from the Tories has now muddied the waters. As soon as it appeared on ConservativeHome, UKIP supporting Chad Noble spotted that the poster implies "A vote on the European Constitution" is "now delayed until the election of a Conservative government".The Lobby are lined up to hear a speech from Cameron tomorrow on his "vision", what is the betting that they will be asking him about this commitment? It is an issue the Brownies have deliberately been trying to stoke up in the press to cause trouble and division with the Tory ranks. Somebody at CCHQ is going to get a bollocking tomorrow...

UPDATE : The Devil has taken a more detailed look at the Tory (non)commitments overnight. Are they meaningful? He thinks not.

Scare the Kids

Government in Halloween Double Trick Retreat

The business community is relieved that the horror of a flat 18% CGT is to be cushioned by a £100,000 tax exempt threshold - Osborne is deriding Darling's Halloween retreat "Alistair Darling has heaped confusion on incompetence. Only three weeks ago, the Chancellor announced big tax increases for small businesses and entrepreneurs... The government has performed so many u-turns it doesn't know which way it's facing."

This follows the news that the government is dropping the planned trick to claw back 5% from school budgets. Guido has no idea where we are now with the pay - as - you - throw micro-chipped-Bin-Brother-spy policy. Guido can confirm however that there is no truth in the rumour that at midnight Ed Balls will turn into a pumpkin.

Geek Note : Service Interruption Possible

Guido is doing a full dress-rehearsal of his host mirroring system today. There should be no noticeable interruption to the blog. The Californian server's 70 megabytes of contents were mirrored on a back-up server in an entirely different legal jurisdiction yesterday.

The intention is to switch servers seamlessly, see how it performs under the traffic load, then switch back to California - without losing a single comment. Isn't technology wonderful?

So anyone thinking of wielding a legal hammer, better get a bigger hammer.

Clegg - ID Cards - "I Will Defy Law"

LibDem politics is so very often the politics of gestures. Huhne's position on Trident isn't of any consequence since he won't have a dog in that fight.

But the politics of the personal is a place where their gestures are more significant. Clegg is going all Gandhi-like and promising mass civil disobedience on ID cards. He told supporters last night "If the legislation is passed I will lead a grassroots campaign of civil disobedience to thwart the identity cards programme ... I, and I expect thousands of people like me, will simply refuse ever to register." "I am not a number" he (almost) shouts.

Which is all very well for private citizens like Guido to do, it is another thing for legislators. Guido's defiance of the state is one thing, a law-maker becoming a law-breaker presents a dilemma of an entirely different order. Unlike private citizens, Clegg is an integral part of the system representative democracy, if he rejects the outcome of majoritarian politics he is rejecting the system. Good luck to him, but he can't simply pick and choose the laws he obeys if he is a law-maker.

Unhappy Halloween

Gove does the intellectual attack muttering about a sad loss of idealism one minute, next minute CCHQ rolls out this poster to commemorate non-election day. Coulson wouldn't have had a hand in this would he?

CH4RLIE 4 Boris

Who was the stilletoed brunette who exited this Bentley with Boris last week at the back of the Norman Shaw building? Answers to editorial@thefirstpost.co.uk.

Schhhh, Ssshhh, Schillings

Gove : "I Might Be Ugly, But I'm Smart"

Michael Gove is making a much anticipated speech this morning which is expected to be the intellectual equivalent of a bitch-slap to Gordon Brown. What the kind readers of this blog always say in the comments whenever Guido features Gove is that "he has a face you just want to slap".

Gove is clearly aware of this and possessing a fair amount of ambition he has made some efforts to ameliorate this reaction. He lost the glasses earlier this year and his clothes have got sharper since his journalist days. He explains in article this morning "thus you have the paradox, which I exemplify, of the individual who is both plain and vain, a man who tries to dress smartly because of an anxiety to minimise the unhappy aesthetic impact of one’s appearance."

What Michael should understand is that the collective urge to happy-slap him isn't strictly to do with his looks. It is the sheer swottyness of him, exemplified in the article, that brings out the latent playground bully in us all.

UPDATE : His speech is a measured dissection of the Brownies problems.

Sky Dalek Policy

Sky apologised today following Julie Etchingham's joke on air that the Tories favoured a policy of "extermination" for immigrants.

As Dave said live "Let me outline the action that a Conservative government would take. As we have seen, some of the increase in population size results from natural change - birth rates, death rates. Here our policy should be obvious... "

Microphone switched on, Julie cracked: "Extermination."

A Sky News spokesman said: "A comment was made in the studio during David Cameron's speech that was broadcast in error. The comment was not intended for broadcast. The off-the-cuff remark was regrettable." She is shortly off to work with Trevor MacDonald on the re-launched News at Ten...

Stephen Glover was one of the founders of the Indy and he still writes a weekly media column for the paper. All credit to him for this morning in his column covering and criticising the editor of the paper for Indy-gate. Some thought it amusing that it had been unmentioned in his column of last week. (Guido did inquire of Glover if he would be covering it when it went without comment).

"You can't expect him to criticise his own editor in the paper" Guido was told by other hacks. Well he did. Independent? Glover is.

Flying Lion Ordinary Rendition

Bob Piper and few other left leaning bloggers are getting excited about Flying Lion Limited and bemoaning Guido's lack of digging into it. They have been digging into the company (now known as "Con Air" because it ferries Tories around) in the hope of uncovering something murky. The Bahamian registered company has got them more than a little agitated.

It is hard to see why they are getting so excited since they should already know it is owned by Ashcroft and a quick perusal of the Electoral Commission website shows £19,819.60 given in the last twelve months. In the year before more than £50,000 worth of flights were registered as reported by The Times in May 2006. So the only reason Guido hasn't been digging into it is because it is not news...

(Incidentally Dave flew BA to Berlin last week.)

Rich & Mark's Monday Morning View

Lord Hoyle Pimps for Arms Dealers

Friday Caption Contest

Hain Loses Another SpAd

Hain can't seem to hold a SpAd down since Phil Taylor's departure. Robert Philpot has gone back to Progress. Who are Hain's SpAds nowadays? Why did Philpot leave so soon? Hain could get a Basher Davis type reputation for staff turnover at this rate...

Lord Hoyle Whores Himself to Arms Dealers

In what is in truth an everyday tale of New Labour sleaze, the Guardian exposes on the front page something that happens regularly at the Parliament of Whores in Westminster.

Lord Hoyle was paid a "counsultancy" fee by lobbyist Michael Wood, of Whitehall Advisers, a firm specialising in the murky world of lobbying for arms deals. The firm boasts in publicity of their ability to influence MoD purchases and that they have played a role in £10 billion of UK equipment procurement.

The undeclared payment is the subject of evolving explanations by Hoyle. He originally admitted to the Guardian

Lord Hoyle accepts he was asked to arrange the lobbyist's introduction "to say hello to the new minister". He told the Guardian that Lord Drayson was asked to come for a drink. Mr Wood was already there. He says he told the minister: "Mike Wood of Whitehall Advisers would like to meet you."

At the meeting, which Lord Drayson, the Minister for Arms Procurement, appears to have correctly and formally noted, Mike Wood made his pitch for his firms clients.

So we have an undeclared, under-the-counter payment to a peer to introduce a lobbyist pimping on behalf of arms dealers to the Minister, Lord Drayson, in charge of buying arms - who himself bought his way into the legislature. Remember the 1997 promise of New Labour to be "whiter than white"...

UPDATE : As a co-conspirator points out in the comments, Tory MP Gerald Howarth obtained a parliamentary pass for Mike Wood. Why? He does enjoy a lot of defence related junkets...

MPs Expenses - A New Hero Emerges

MPs expense figures have just been released.* Philip Hollobone (Con, Kettering) is the least expensive MP coming in at under £44,551. Liam Byrne (Lab, Birmingham Hodge Hill) is four times as expensive at £178,116.

Guido called Hollobone's office to try and figure out the anomaly:

Guido Fawkes "Is Hollobone there?"
Office "Yes."
Guido Fawkes "Can I speak to him?"
Office "Yes."
Guido Fawkes "Thanks."
Guido waits patiently.
Office "It is me."

It turns out that the reason he is some £23,340 cheaper than even Dennis Skinner (£67,891) is that he doesn't employ any office staff. He answers his own correspondence (he can type) and he says dealing with constituents is his favourite part of the job. So it is no surprise that he is rated in the top decile for responsiveness by WriteToThem.com, whereas Liam Byrne, despite all his staff and great expense, comes 158th.

According to data from TheyWorkForYou.com, Philip Hollobone

• Has spoken in 105 debates in the last year — well above average amongst MPs.
• Has received answers to 194 written questions in the last year — well above average amongst MPs.
• Is a member of 2 select committees.
• Replied within 2 or 3 weeks to a very high number of messages sent via WriteToThem.com during 2006, according to constituents.
• Has voted in 87% of votes in parliament — well above average amongst MPs.

How is it that he can be an excellent constituency MP for a third of the average cost of the rest?

*Thanks to Bloomberg for doing the number crunching.

Dacre Officially Enters Gordon's Tent

In what many think is designed to provide Dacre with a "public service" excuse for his peerage, Gordon has appointed him to oversee a review of the 30 Year Secrecy Rule.

Dacre's other public services; warning the public about gypsies, immigrants, alco-pops and such-like are deemed not good enough to earn him the ermine. Guido thinks editors should sup with politicians with a long spoon, getting in their tent and having a cozy breakfast in the morning with them is unwise. Perhaps it was secrecy that they discussed over the breakfast kippers...

Sainsbury v Ashcroft

It is worth noting when Labour MPs in marginal seats start bleating about Ashcroft's money being a threat to democracy that they never mention Lord Sainsbury. He has actually given the Labour party, one way or another, some £15 million. Far more than Ashcroft has given the Tories.

Sainsbury has in the past given under-the-counter money to Blairite modernising groups as well. The odd £250,000 here and there to groups like the Progress faction. Guido thinks that he was overall a force for good in the Labour party, bringing them into the real-world. Lord Drayson bought his peerage off Blair, he too has become an effective minister - probably because of his business background. Similarly, probably because of his business background, Ashcroft forces Tory candidates to come up with a serious business plan. The sharpening up of their campaign objectives is probably worth more than the £10,000 to £30,000 he gave them in the past. Now the party has adopted what was his freelance system at CCHQ and brought him back inside.

Don't forget incumbent MPs have voted themselves an extra £10,000 of taxpayers money for propaganda and already have well funded office teams of staff. They have all the incumbent advantages and they are up against candidates who invariably have jobs to do as well. To lever out an incumbent MP takes some doing...

Brownie Family Picture

Regular readers will enjoy the Rowson cartoon in the Guardian today. A touching family scene involving Gordon Brown and nappies. Guido would reproduce it but can't face Deborah Summers ringing Guido up to harangue him yet again. Enjoy.

Burying the Hatchet?

Credit : Adam Myer

+++ Dougie Apologises +++

Just in from the Press Association:

"I, of course, apologise for any actions or omissions on my part which contributed to the problems encountered in the Scottish elections..."

A sign of the underlying weakness of his position.

When in trouble apologise and try to move the story on. Rule 3 from the Blair/Mandelson/Campbell Media Play Book.

UPDATE : The Lobby today asked the PMS again "if the Prime Minister had full confidence in Douglas Alexander". This is the formula the Lobby uses when they mean "is the PM going to sack 'im". Two days in a row, not a good sign...

Brownie Bollocked Again by Speaker

Guido can't recall a time when the speaker has bollocked an MP not involved in debate two weeks in a row during PMQs. Following that disastrous Brown spanking at PMQs Geoff Hoon has been orchestrating cheering and Iain Austin is clearly over-doing the jeering.

Ian Austin MP is a former press officer with the West Midlands Labour Party, a political advisor to Gordon Brown when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer and now his PPS who attends cabinet meetings. He is another second-rater who owes his rise only to being a loyal Brownie. Clearly he is also a bit of a numpty.

Is the email working at the Indy? The phones definitely seem to be playing up, last time Guido called to talk to Andy Grice the line went dead. So just in case Guido's email to him on Monday went astray, here it is for him to read here:

From Guy Fawkes
To a.grice@independent.co.uk
Date Oct 22, 2007 12:52 PM
Subject Hi ya

Andy,

Obviously this issue about the recycled FCO briefing is of great interest. I have two quick questions.

Could you give me an on the record quote as to how you independently verified the truth of the FCO briefing?

Can you confirm that you have never recycled for publication a press briefing verbatim in the past?

--
Guido Fawkes Esq.

Of course if another example of Grice recycling press briefings and passing it off as journalism were to be found, it would be a bit of a personal disaster for his reputation and credibility. He wouldn't have done that, would he?

Incidentally, in the U.S. the National Review has picked up on Indy-gate. Well, you know how stuffy Americans can be about journalistic integrity.

Dougie Alexander is a Liability

The damning conclusion of the Scottish Election Review, commissioned by the Electoral Commission was that ‘both the Scotland Office and the Scottish Executive were frequently focused on partisan political interests in carrying out their responsibilities, overlooking voter interests and operational realities’ and that ‘characteristic of 2007 was a notable level of party self-interest evident in Ministerial decisions-making’.

That should be a resignation issue, but if one thing is key to understanding New Labour at the highest level, it is the putting of party interest before the national interest. That is a given in all circumstances. Soldiers die because of political expediency, hospitals are photo ops, school children are leadership campaign props and spin is the narrative reality.

Dougie Alexander is Gordon's election co-ordinator, he co-ordinated the recently and expensively lost non-election, he directed the disastrous campaign that led to the loss of electoral control in Scotland by the Labour party for the first time in living memory. He writes pamphlets for think-tanks on how to win elections by turning political parties into "community hubs". In his spare time he is the Minister in charge of DFID, where he oversees electoral assistance to developing countries - beyond satire.

He is an asset to Labour's opponents and a liability to Gordon according to Labour colleagues. Hopefully Gordon will ignore the criticism because he so values Dougie's loyalty.

PASC Hearing Report to Follow

Guido found the hearing very, very interesting. Actually thought Wright did a reasonably good job. There was a little partisan point scoring from members, but essentially he said "told you so."

Full(er) report later. Must dash...

How to Tell If Tony Wright Has Been Nobbled

Today is the first hearing of the Public Administration Select Committee into "Propriety and Honours: Lessons Learned". At 3.00 pm oral evidence will be taken from: AC John Yates, Metropolitan Police, Carmen Dowd, Head of Special Crime Division, CPS and David Perry QC.

This is only the first hearing, we are told there will be others.

Tony Wright chairs the committee and is being criticised for selecting the terms of reference to avoid investigating the actual allegations. He no doubt would argue that was the job of the police.

However, if at a subsequent hearing he does not call Lord Levy to answer questions, you can safely assume he has been nobbled. Arguably Blair and Ruth Turner should also be called to explain themselves.

Guido has also seen a copy of a letter sent to Tony Wright by a witness making specific allegations about being offered honours in return for donations to the Labour party. The letter specifies who made the offer, the figures discussed, as well as naming the Labour party operators involved when they were introduced to Tony Blair. The witness states in the letter that they are bemused at the lack of a prosecution. The witness also states in their letter to Tony Wright (copied to all members of the Committee) that they are willing to testify to the Committee. If that witness is not called Tony Wright has been nobbled.

To the hundreds who have pledged publicly (and privately) to financially support a private prosecution and have been wondering what has been going on, rest assured preparations have been made, legal soundings have been taken and we are waiting to see what comes out of these hearings.

You will also remember that after the dropping by the CPS of the case, the briefings in the papers by "friends" of Levy and Ruth Turner that they would be taking legal action against those who made the accusations. Nobody has received a writ. They have gone very quiet.

What Did They Do With Gisela?

This morning Quentin Letts in his sketch wonders what the Labour whips did to Gisela "Gordon is Lying" Stuart during Brown's EU treaty statement yesterday. He points out that she was noticeably missing despite having helped on the drafting committee for the EU constitution. Jack Straw (pictured here) chose her to be on Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's committee when he was Foreign Secretary. Quentin is therefore looking for her:-

Lost: one feline Labour MP, sleek coat, answers to the name of Gisela Stuart (Edgbaston). If you see this much-stroked pussy please ring to say she is all right.

The slimey Kaufman had a go at her yesterday as well, he spoke of how some MPs were prepared to write "well remunerated articles" in the Press, and how they "prefer money to the truth". Rich coming from him, as you can see by studying the register of interests.

Some MPs do television for free, but not him. Here are Gerald's recent declared media fees: BBC (Up to £5,000), Daily Mail (Up to £5,000), Mail on Sunday (Up to £5,000), Evening Standard (Up to £5,000), Fees from the Telegraph Group. (Up to £5,000), The Scotsman, News International, (Up to £5,000). Massive pot calling small kettle...

Bit bored today. Chris Clegg and Nick Huhne are too difficult to distinguish.

Guido got a press release from John Lewis telling him that they supply the Huhnie monster with his suits. Says it all really.

Name & Shame MPs Who Vote Themselves Tax Cut

Guido was at an impromptu meeting of successful* internet entrepreneurs held at the Adam Street Club. We were briefed by David Gauke from the Tory shadow treasury team who also sits on the Treasury Select Committee.

Basically the entrepreneurs were extremely pissed off that they were looking at a sudden 80% hike in capital gains taxes when they come to sell their start-ups. They are not the only ones, the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the British Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses are spitting tacks at a tax that came out of the blue via the back of an envelope.

David Gauke pointed out that MPs would, as a result of the reforms, now get a 55% tax cut on capital gains (down from 40% to 18%) when they sell their taxpayer subsidised Westminster second homes. At this self-serving outrage there was a collective "what the f***!" from a roomful of exasperated entrepreneurs.

Guido thinks when the vote comes, those MPs who vote themselves a 55% tax cut and small businesses an 80% tax hike, should be named and shamed. Guido is thinking not just of Yvette and Ed Balls, but those champagne socialists with their multi-million pound property portfolios who will benefit. Michael Meacher and Emily Thornberry spring to mind, but they are not the only MPs who'll be voting themselves a tax cut on their property portfolios. It adds insult to injury when you factor in that the taxpayer has paid them a tax-free mortgage subsidy worth some £40,000 a year to MPs. Guido will happily publicly name and shame MPs with bulging property portfolios who vote for the Finance Bill that clobbers entrepreneurs. Email Guido any names and details...

*FYI, this blog is more profitable than Guardian Unlimited, which is supposed to be an online success. Apart, that is, from the making money element of success

The Indy-gate scandal is gathering momentum in the media following Kelner's un-apology.

• Dan Hannan in the Telegraph is derisory about the Indy's misinformation.
• Roy Greenslade in his widely read (by hacks) Guardian blog returns to the issue for a second time.
• James Forsyth over at the Speccie's CoffeeHouse wonders "What would The Independent say if another newspaper had done the same on Iraq?"
• Iain Dale doesn't think this over yet. "Not by a long way." Nor does Guido.
• Melanie Phillips thinks Indy-gate "a practice associated with the unfree press in totalitarian societies. Once again, the blogosphere has shown its power to hold the mainstream media sharply to account and inflict real damage to its reputation."

The newspaper's readers surely deserve to know the truth. Is it now the editorial policy of the Independent to reprint lengthy government press releases word-for-word if Andy Grice* agrees with them? Shouldn't the Indy flag up when it is re-printing government press releases - "This information was supplied by the government, we are reprinting it in its entirety on the front page because we agree with it." Perhaps a little "Government Approved" logo would suffice?

*According to Simon Kelner "what we printed was a collection of facts, which our political editor independently verified."

Rich & Mark's Monday Morning View

Huhne "Can't Remember" Authoring Druggie Article

Indy-gate : Issue is About Journalistic Ethics, Not the EU

The Indy's editor-in-chief Simon Kelner, attempting to defend the reprinting of an FCO press briefing as original journalism, claimed that "The Eurosceptics, who have monopolised this debate for so long, appear to be shooting the messenger because they don't like the message... I am completely unapologetic about our attempt to explode the myths that have been allowed to develop in what has been an extremely one-sided debate...".

This is an attempt to distract from the substantive issue - which is a question of journalistic ethics. No one can accuse the Indy of being one-sided on the issue, they have laughably flipped and flopped on the referendum issue:

18 June – a leader calling for a referendum, “The question is whether or not a package of fairly weighty changes that will undoubtedly affect Europe's shape and destiny should - in this country at any rate - be decided in a referendum. The answer is simple: it should and it must.”

25 June – a leader opposing a referendum, “Having dangled the prospect of a referendum last week, Mr Brown was right to bat it smartly away.”

12 September – a leader calling for a referendum, “The case against a vote on the treaty is weak. The Government's argument that the new European treaty is significantly different from the European Constitution that was rejected by Dutch and French voters in 2005 is unconvincing. The name may have changed but it is essentially the same document on which Tony Blair promised a national plebiscite shortly before the last general election... This newspaper wants a referendum for different reasons.. Rather than trying to evade the moment of truth, Mr Brown should concentrate his energies and those of his Government on campaigning for a yes vote.”

18 October – the piece cut 'n pasted from the FCO briefing opposing a referendum.

Source : OpenEurope.org

Kelner's credibility on this is zero. We can completely ignore the Indy's position on the EU Referendum, it is as irrelevant as it is changeable.

In America, where journalists take professional ethics more seriously, there would be resignations if a journalist plagiarised a government briefing wholesale. The substantive issue here is not whether the Indy is for or against a referendum, it is whether the Indy is a credible source of honest independent journalism, or a rag which reprints press releases uncritically. Which is it? Indy readers have a right to know if they are being peddled government spin as independent journalism on the front page.

Tim Yeo Does a Days Work

Guido has reflected on the high emission hypocrisy of Tim Yeo before. This week we read in the FT about him flying off for some golf. The article reveals that he actually went to the office on Monday, yes a whole day, before flying to Spain for another week of golf. Well done Tim...

"Queen" Brown at the Rugby

Last night the Rugby World Cup commentators said that in addition to Princes William and Harry, the Princess Royal was present "as the representative of the Queen". After the final whistle, the trophy was presented by the French head of state Sarkozy accompanied by Mbeki, South Africa's head of state, and Gordon Brown. Protocol-wise it should have been Anne.

What was Brown's role at the rugby world cup final? Was he keen to get close to all those rugby heroes to bask in their reflected glory? Sports fans should note that the PM is a sporting Jonah; Scotland lost the the soccer match he attended as PM, England lost to Germany the match he attended with Merkel and the English rugby team suffered his curse last night.

The Springboks carried Mbeki aloft as they celebrated, if England had won could you imagine Jonny and the boys carrying our bottler-in-chief on high?