I am aware that successful novelists such as Jack Higgins – The Eagle Has Landed – to inject realism use a blend of fact and fiction in their writings. The same applies with Paul Staines/Guido Fawkes in his piece A Blogger’s Notebook in today’s Spectator. He writes: “Having sat patiently on a barrel of digital dynamite for months — the emails from Gordon Brown’s chief spin doctor Damian McBride to Mandelson’s protégé Derek Draper, suggesting Tory smear stories — I light the fuse on Andrew Neil’s BBC Daily Politics show”.
I would not credit him with having any patience. A gossip monger able to sit on information for months? Tell me another. A more truthful version is that he was informed about the existence of the said emails and the gist of their content. Note he does not say how he came about to be in possession of the said emails. We are told that this story is about the Left trying to smear the Right. However, behind this is the Right trying to smear the Left. We are led to believe that the hero of the piece is Paul Staines/Guido Fawkes. In truth, he is but the message boy handed the information to deliver by his masters behind the scenes. When challenged to publish the emails which he claimed to have already in his possession by Derek Draper on the Brillo Show, Paul Staines/Guido Fawkes was unable to do so. He had to await His Master’s Voice for permission. Rather than be patient, like he claims, he jumped the gun. This is evidenced when he writes: “After the show I publicise on my blog a Freedom of Information request for emails between McBride and Draper”. Lawyers call this a fishing expedition.
It was not that long ago that Paul Staines/Guido Fawkes made a wild claim on Newsnight, and his bluff was called by Michael White. It appears that this little boy is desperately seeking a piece of the action and to take credit for it to satisfy his over inflated ego. For example, he writes: “Chris Hope is a Telegraph journalist I have worked with in the past: he took the credit for our investigation into the Smith Institute that resulted in Gordon Brown’s favourite think-tank getting restructured by the Charity Commission”. He gets let into a story and then screams “it’s mine, give me credit”. Run along little boy. He so wants to be a shark. Presently, a big fish in a small pond. But, have you noticed how large a goldfish appears in a goldfish bowl which appears to magnify the size of the small fish?
Paul Staines/Guido Fawkes writes: “A figure of £20,000 is discussed”. It just happened to be floating by in the air at the time, and they discussed it. Having recently read a piece in praise of Guido, where it was claimed no money changed hands and Guido is only in it to expose corrupt politicians. Here we have him trying to hawk his wares for 20 grand! Why does he not simply admit that he tried to make a quick buck? Obviously, what he was trying to sell was not worth it. There is also the issue of Guido being a fence and trying to sell on stolen property, and the Telegraph not wishing to commit the criminal offence of aiding and abetting and buying stolen property. So, his get rich quick scheme falls into tatters before his eyes. But, not before he tries to flog the emails to the News of the World and the Times. Nobody is buying. All he can get out of it all is some publicity. So, he decides to settle for that instead.
Guido tries to claim that the News of the World broke its non disclosure agreement with the Times. However, he fails to mention that he first broke such an agreement by approaching the Times himself. And, he was only going to them after getting a flea in his ear from the Telegraph. Then we have Guido doing the parading of the wife and children in public, the death knell for politicians as witnessed by Derek Conway. He is desperate for the headlines but does not want to lose his head when he shoves it above the parapet. And tries the public interest immunity, it’s in a noble cause, rather than sell his stolen goods for cash. Furthermore, he tries to assure us that he is calculating and working out a strategy for maximum impact. Truth be known, his masters dictated which route he had to take with both the News of the World and Sunday Times.
The whole point of a scoop, exclusive, is to be the first to publish the story. This is no different for the new media of blogging and the Dead Tree Press and Mainstream Media of radio and television. Here we are expected to believe that Guido gave the story away? He graciously sacrificed his scoop to come in second best? Pull the other one, it’s got bells on it. For whom do the bells toll? They toll for thee Guido, sounding your death knell. And just for the record, it is me who has brought down the government with the Prisoners Votes Case, which has become an election issue, and not Guido who is but a patsy for the Tories behind the scenes.
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This is a brilliant post putting things into perspective and putting Paul Staines/Guido Fawkes in his place.
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