This morning I posted the following on Conservative Home.
On the subject of blogs.
Tory A List candidate Iain Dale who has a blog called Iain Dale's Diary, yesterday spat his dummy out and threw it out of his pram. On his blog he operates a system called comment moderation, which allows the blog author the opportunity to read comments submitted before deciding whether to publish or not publish any comment.
Rachel North London, a survivor of the 7/7 bomb attack, also runs a blog. And she questioned Iain Dale's judgment on allowing a comment to be published on his blog which not only attacked me but was off topic. I read this comment by someone claiming to be Peter Hitchins, and posted a moderate response to this rabid attack, which Iain Dale also published.
Oddly, Iain Dale then proceeded to throw out the baby with the bath water in a tantrum one would not and should not expect from someone who wants us to elect him to become a MP. That is, he punished the innocent along with the guilty by banning me from posting further comments. I fought a case and won the right for prisoners to speak to the media. Only to face unfair censorship by Iain Dale. If he behaves like this now, what can we expect if he ever came into real power?
Iain Dale is guilty of publishing a libel on his blog. The least he should do now is apologise to the injured party, and set the record straight. He has allowed his blog to degenerate to the gutter level of that other Tory blog operated by Guido. Unless the Tory Party cleans up its act, it can forget about winning over the electorate. Sleaze is just as dirty in opposition. Perhaps, it is for the best that it is going down the drain.
Posted by: John Hirst | 20 December 2006 at 13:20
I await Iain Dale's response.